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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [703r] (1422/1814)
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.
THE KARUN RIVER
357
i
5
*
the top of the bank—the immemorial custom of Elam and Chaldaea.
The Arab camps or villages, dependent for their existence on the
water thus derived, are situated on the very brink, and the entire
population, not working with the plough, would turn out to see us
pass. Throughout the day we traversed a country devastated by
locusts. They swarmed on the banks and hung in red festoons
from the twigs of every bush and shrub ; they dropped on the
boat, scrambled into the cabin, and straddled all over the deck ;
and the drowned bodies of those that had not strength to cross the
river floated in hundreds down the stream.
The first place of the smallest importance after leaving Ahwaz
is the village of Weiss on the left shore, which, to a line of mud
Weigsor huts fringing the banks, adds the rare distinction of an
Oweiss imamzadeh and half a dozen palms . 1 This village marks
the northern limit of Sheikh Mizal’s jurisdiction, the territory be
yond, though largely peopled by Arabs, being under the direct
administration of the Governor of Arabistan. There is here a
ferry across the river. Weiss is about thirty-five miles distant by
water from Ahwaz, the river following a very serpentine course
between; allowing for which circumstance it was still somewhat
disquieting only to find myself abreast of the village at 1 p.m. on
the day after leaving Ahwaz, or an hour later than the time at
which I had been assured that I should reach Shushter, still nearly
sixty miles distant by river.
In the annals of earlier travellers Weiss has left a name for
inhospitality quite uncommon among the Arab tribes. It was the
furthest point reached, in his navigation of the Karun
Shaur river in Atay 1831, by the adventurous hfi. Stocqueler,
river whose boat was stopped, plundered, and fired at by the
sheikh and people of this place, and compelled to beat a precipitate
retreat to Mohammerah . 2 Five years later, in November 18o6,
Major Estcourt’s party, ascending the river in a native boat from
Ahwaz, were refused provisions by the inhabitants, and were
obliged forcibly to appropriate a sheep . 3 No more untoward
demonstration took place on this occasion than the frantic shiieks
of the juvenile population, who watched our passage from the
1 The imamzadeh is that of Oweiss ibn Karani, one of the companions of the
Prophet, and the place is named from him.
2 Fifteen Months' Pilgrimage, vol. i. pp. 63-7.
3 w v AtrvawrvrtVs Pp.r&nnal Narrative, vol. ii. p. 222.
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 [703r] (1422/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213849.0x000017> [accessed 10 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