"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" [و‎‎٥‎٨] (٣١٢/١٢٠)

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The ijfie, when mounted, is carried over the right shoulder, by a very
short leather sling with the butt to the front, and steadied by stretching
out the rigiit arm, when moving at a trot or canter.
Another way is to place it under the upper felt covering of the saddle, and
hold it by a pressure of the leg.
^always delivered from horseback : they do not dismount.
ay General direction, N. Left Gulnari, and continued down the
stream valley until the Zab is again reached. The river valley is about h
mile broad, with patches of wheat along the banks. On the opposite bank, in
a south-east direction, runs a very rough, wooded valley cut up by the numer
ous ravines.
At 2 miles left the valley, and turned up over a long rounded spur from
the Kotsrut Dagh, a gradual ascent in soft shale soil.
lang-i-Skaikh Ismail. Ihe river emerges from another narrow rift or
gorge called the lang-i-Shaikh Ismail, which extends in winding direction
trom the Marga plain to this, and is 6 miles long.
Torba.- At 5i miles we reached the top of the spur near the village of
lorba, and opened out a splendid view (1,760').
Immediately below is a wide flat plain 65 to 40 miles long and 10 to 12
broad, across which winds the Zab, entering by the Baba Derbend from
rishder valley and leaving it by the Tang-i-Shaikh Ismail.
The northern portion is Rania, and the southern Marga plain. Maro-a
village bears E.N.E. across the plain, and is 10 miles distant, the river
having to be crossed to reach it.
Rania bears nearly north, and is 19 miles distant in a straight line.
. Kand ^ pagh. — From 300° to 40° extends amass of very high mountains,
with summits thickly covered with snow, called the Kandil Dagh. There
are no very prominent peaks and the lower spurs o£ this range^commence
north of Rama. The Summu is about 30 miles distant from here.
Iiom 40 to 85 is a marked dip in the range and a rounded spur of 5,000
to 6,000 feet elevation extends S. S. E. from the Kandil Dagh. This is’one
of the ridges on the frontier dividing the Pishder valley from the upper
waters of the Zab in Persia.
KurJcur Dagh .—From 90° to 118° werea steep mass of hills, with summits
streaked with snow, known as the Kurkur Dagh.
The principal rocky peak bears 95°, 18 miles distant, and the summit is
about 8,000 above sea level. Marga is on the lower slopes of this range,
which rise steeply above it. From 120° to 140° the south-east end of the
Marga plain is closed by a very rough hilly country intersected by steep
jagged ridges and ravines very thickly wooded. From a direction 123 W ,
flowing down a deep rocky gorge between low wooded hills, flowed the Kara-
cholan, a large tributary of the Zab.
All this tract of country to the north and north-west of the Pir-a-Mag-
durin peak is very wild and impracticable.
The end of the Kotsrut Dagh bears 308° from here. The Marga plain,
although well watered,'and covered with good grass, presents a very desolated,
deserted appearance, and only a few wretched villages were visible in its whole
extent. Marga is a village with the residence of a Kaimmakam. Near it are
some extensive ruins.
Its former importance and prosperity is vouched for by several remarkable
tumuli or conical mounds, which mark the remains of old towns and villages
dotted about the plain. Descending from the spur, we passed through Torba
village. The houses were well built; the foundations and lower portion of the