![Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎775r] (1566/1814)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x00033b/Mss Eur F111_33_1590.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "Annotated Copy of <em>Persia and the Persian Question</em> by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎775r] (1566/1814)")
Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [775r] (1566/1814)
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.
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PEESIAN GULF
447
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Arabs, it is said, calling it by that name, or Mania Selemeh,
in memory of a holy lady there interred. It has been written
that
The most advanced cliff is the ‘ Hock of Salvation ’ or of ‘Welcome,’
above which hover the protecting spirits of sea and air. When he
launches on the boundless deep, the Arab navigator offers a sacrifice to
this rock, and on his return presents it his thank-offering. The Hindu
also strews the waves with flowers and cocoa-nuts in honour of the
local deities, or else sends adrift a model of his vessel with its variegated
sails and little cargo of rice. The omen is favourable if the tiny craft
reaches the shore in safety; otherwise dangers of all kinds are imminent,
and prudence enjoins a return to port . 1
But, so far as I could ascertain, these pious superstitions, for an
account of which I must refer my readers to the pages of Morier,
have since succumbed to the iconoclastic influences of time. In the
deep coves which ramify inland between the cliffs, projecting like
the points of a stag’s antlers, the waters boom against the rocks,
and roar in hidden caves. On the peaks and crags of this mysteri
ous promontory, fit denizens of so weird an abode, are found the
fragments of an aboriginal race, driven forward till they have
reached this final resting-place, where none can pursue them, above
the sea. There are a few thousands of this people, known as
Shihiyins, like the Arabs in feature, but darker; speaking a lan
guage unknown to the Arabs, but Arab also ; and living on the
capture of fish and preparation of sharks’ fins, which are exported
for soup to China. They dwell in caves on the cliff-side with a
wattled thorn-fence in front, to save the inmates from falling into
the sea, the children being usually tethered by the leg to this pri
mitive domestic hearth.
Fifteen miles frorn the extreme point of Has Musandim the
promontory again narrows to an isthmus, named Maklab (place of
English turning), not more than half a mile in width, by which it
occupa- is united to the mainland. On the eastern side of this
isthmus a splendid bay, called by the natives Ghubbeh
Ghazireh, but christened by the English Malcolm’s Inlet, sweeps in
from the sea. On the western side is an even finer natural harbour,
more completely land-locked, and providing anchorage for. the A
largest vessels, known as Elphinstone’s Inlet. The station of
Khasab, at the entrance to this wonderful cove, has before now
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1 Elisee Keclus, Universal Geography, vol. ix. p. 443.
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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 [775r] (1566/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213849.0x0000a7> [accessed 2 April 2025]
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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