"استطلاعات في بلاد الرافدين وكردستان وشمال غرب بلاد فارس ولرستان في الفترة من أبريل إلى أكتوبر ١٨٨٨، كتبها المقدم ف. ر. مونسيل، فرع الاستخبارات. يوجد مجلدان. المجلد الأول: تقرير سردي ووصف للمدن الكبرى والطرق المؤدية منها. شيملا: فرع الاستخبارات، إدارة قائد الإمداد والتموين، ١٨٩٠" [و‎‎٤‎٥] (٣١٢/٩٤)

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4tli May—Genei’al direction, N.N.E. A detour was made north-east from
Sir-i-Pul to visit Zohab and return from there to Kasr-i-Shirin.
From Sir-i-Pul the road is level to Zohab. At first the track leads parallel to
the Kala Daoud Range and rounds the end where it dies away in the plain.
The district to the west is Karaboulak, and a large spring of that name comes
out of the rock at the base of the Range. The plain round Sir-i-Pul was
fairly well cultivated ; the first barley that had been cut was seen here.
Some camps of Kurdish iliats were still here but were to move to the
hills soon. After rounding the end of the Kala Daoud Range the road strikes
across the foot of the Bishewa valley and then over a low watershed into Zohab
plain. A large canal has been cut which carries the water from the Alwand
across this watershed to irrigate both plains.
Any paths leading across the plain are rather swampy because of rice
fields and leakage from canals. Some patches of splendid grass, mostly clover,
was passed through.
Not a single tree or village was to be seen on the plain. Only some
Kurdish iliats were camped on the low grassy undulations to the south-west
side. A few patches of barley, wheat, cotton and Indian corn, are grown, but
much less than formerly produced from this fertile plain. Only about one-
third is now under crops. This is due to the general insecurity of this frontier
and the constant raiding of the Hamawand and Jaf tribes from over the border.
It is also a favourite spot for the Kalhur, Karindi, Guran and other iliats
to spend the winter.
The only habitations seen were some clusters of wretched reed huts. Several
canals were choked up, with the water flowing uselessly about the fields.
The road skirts the foot of a lower plateau or spur of' the Kuh-i-Delahu,
which bounds the plain to the north-east. The lower slopes are steep and
covered with boulders, while along the summit runs a cliff 200'to 300' high
jutting out as a prominent bluff into the plain. This is a parallel ridge to the
Kuh-i-Zengueljjn, and is separated from it by a deep gorge and valley, through
which the Alwand flows, and in which Rejiab and Yarran are situated.
J 0HAB _ —At 13 miles Zohab (2,100') was reached on a small stream called
the Chemisahu. On the right bank are the ruins of the old town of Zohab,
once a large place, containing now only 100 mud-hovels and a small barrack,
where a captain and 50 sarbaz are quartered. These are of the Guran Kurd
Regiment.
There were two large encampments of Jaf Kurds on the plain, who had
come over the frontier from Gulambar. They had disagreed, they said, with
Shaikh Muhammad, their chief in Sulaimaniah.
The plain of Zohab measures 10 miles long by 5 broad. On the south-east
side is the spur of the Kuh-i-Delahu already mentioned. On the summit of
this is the old fortress of Yezdigird, called Kala Ban Zarda or Kala Yezdigird.
In a direction 50° runs the narrow rocky valley from which the Chemisahu
stream emerges. The road to Juanro leads up it. To the north-east overlooking
Zohab is a high bare undulating ridge, with slopes cut up by several ravines.
In a direction 350° is a deep trough in the hills through which the Sulai
maniah road leads. Bounding the valley to the north-west are several low round
ed hills rising to a rockv ridge, which runs N.N.W. till it reaches the Hiala
Route to Juanro .—This is a hilly rough track of three long stages, of eight
hours each, given as—
VOL. I.
(1) Ali Sultan.
(2) Habikak Jaf.
(3) Juanro.
K