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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [697v] (1411/1814)
The record is made up of 2 volumes with inserts (898 folios). It was created in 1892-1924. It was written in English, Urdu and German. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
346
PERSIA
Ahwaz
size and appearance more resembling a hen pheasant) jumped up
at our feet and whirred away with a flight like that of a grouse;
several hares scampered hither and thither. I shot a big wild cat
which turned out to be a lynx, and was as large as an Indian
cheetah, and some monster wild boar appeared within easy range.
It would be difficult to ride them in this country, because of
the swamps and deep nullahs or cracks in the surface ; but some
years ago pig-sticking expeditions were regularly organised from
Baghdad. For anyone content with small game a richer pre
serve could not be found than the Karun valley; while, for the
more ambitious, lions are also forthcoming, and further north, in
the Bakhtiari Mountains, a number of antelope, ibex, and wild
goat.
At 3 p.m. the c Shushan ’ was anchored in mid-stream below
the rapids of Ahwaz, having occupied twenty-three hours’ steaming
in the ascent . 1 The distance from Mohammerah by river
is about 117 miles; the land march is much less, being
calculated by different authorities as from seventy-four to eighty-
two miles. Here I continued my walk up the right bank in
order to inspect the ruins of the famous bund or dam, and the
not less famous rapids. It should be added that the town of
Ahwaz is 220 feet above the level of the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
.
Navigation is abruptly suspended at Ahwaz, and the crux of
the Karun difficulty is created by the existence in the immediate
neighbourhood of the river of a formidable outcrop of
tertiary sandstone, which, after constituting the somewhat
remarkable ridge already mentioned as rising with oblique stratifi
cation and zigzag outline, at a slight distance from the left bank,
suddenly obtrudes itself in the shape of a number of ledges right
across the river bed, and then vanishes under the surface of the
plain, only to reappear in another and lower ridge some miles
further to the west. It is the obstacle formed by these ledges, of
which there are four, cutting the stream almost at right angles,
and the abrupt fall of about eight to ten feet between the water
level above and below, that constitute the rapids. There are
1 The descent subsequently occupied 11| hours, there being a great deal of
'water in the river. The average time occupied by the ‘ Blosse Lynch,’ a much
larger paddle-wheel vessel, with which Messrs. Lynch have resumed the navigation^
was 16^ hours in the ascent and 10| in the descent, in the high waters of the pre
ceding spring. The velocity of a full current is from 4 to 5 miles in the hour; of a
low current, from 1 to 14.
The rapids
1
About this item
- Content
These two volumes are George Curzon's own personal annotated copies of both volumes of his book Persia and the Persian Question , which was published in 1892. Alongside the volumes are various loose papers relating to Persia [Iran], consisting of the following: received correspondence; newspaper cuttings; publishers' press releases; cuttings from various booksellers' catalogues; various journal and magazine articles; two items of printed official British correspondence; several prints of photographs and sketches; and a few handwritten notes by Curzon.
In most cases these papers, which range in date from 1892 to 1924, relate to the chapters in the book where they were originally inserted, suggesting that they were kept by Curzon with the intention of using them to inform a revised edition of the book.
Of particular note among the small amount of correspondence are two letters received by Curzon in 1914 and 1915 from retired schoolmaster and Islamic scholar Sayyid Mazhar Hasan Musawi of Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India (ff 5-9 and ff 44-53). These letters, which are written in Urdu and are accompanied by English translations, discuss in detail several inaccuracies found in the Urdu version of Persia and the Persian Question .
The various prints of photographs and sketches, which were originally inserted into volume two, are of different locations in the Gulf region. Several of these appear to have been produced in preparation for the publication of the second volume of John Gordon Lorimer's Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , Oman and Central Arabia (i.e. the 'Geographical and Statistical' section) in 1908, as they are identical to the versions found in that volume.
Also of note among the loose papers are an illustrated article from Country Life dated 5 June 1920, entitled 'The People of Persia' (ff 36-37), and a printed family tree of the Shah of Persia [Aḥmad Shah Qājār], produced in preparation of his visit to Britain in 1919 (f 233).
Volume one of Persia and the Persian Question contains a map of Persia, Afghanistan and Beluchistan [Balochistan], which is folded inside the front cover (f 1).
The German language material consists of a publisher's press release for two books authored by German archaeologist Ernst Emil Herzfeld (ff 29-30).
- Extent and format
- 2 volumes with inserts (898 folios)
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: this shelfmark consists of two physical volumes. The foliation sequence commences at the first folio of volume one (1-463), and terminates at the last folio of volume two (ff 464-898); these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Each volume contains a large number of loose leaves, which have been foliated in the order that they were inserted into the volume; for conservation reasons, these loose folios have been removed from the volume and stored separately. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers of the two volumes.
Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English, Urdu and German in Latin and Arabic script View the complete information for this record
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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [697v] (1411/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213849.0x00000c> [accessed 6 June 2026]
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- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/33
- Title
- Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Questionby George Curzon, with Inserted Papers
- Pages
- 54r:135v, 147r:149v, 158r:180v, 183r:221v, 224r:224v, 227r:246v, 248r:257v, 259r:260v, 268r:362v, 364r:364v, 367r:388v, 390r:400v, 402r:416v, 419r:432v, 434r:444v, 448r:462v, 464r:471v, 475r:481v, 483r:513v, 516r:525v, 527r:544v, 546r:563v, 566r:598v, 600r:622v, 624r:656v, 658r:665v, 667r:675v, 678r:684v, 687r:688v, 691r:691v, 693r:693v, 695r:708v, 711r:721v, 724r:726v, 728r:729v, 731r:736v, 742r:742v, 746r:757v, 759r:761v, 763r:763v, 765r:765v, 772r:777v, 780r:789v, 793r:794v, 797r:809v, 811r:821v, 825r:840v, 843r:898v
- Author
- Curzon, George Nathaniel, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston
- Usage terms
- Public Domain