"دليل بلاد فارس. مجلد III. جزء I: من A إلى K" [و‎‎٢‎٧‎٠] (١٢٧٨/٥٤٤)

DAS—DAS
263
Kalat. On the south Dashtl meets the district of the Shlbkuh Ports, of
which the nearest to Dashti is Kangan.
Physical characteristics .—The physical features of Dashti are few and
simple. The principal one is, of course, the great maritime range, which
rur.s south-eastwards and forms an almost continuous background to the
district. 6 miles to the north-east of Khurmuj it rises in a grand peak
6,430 feet high, which is generally known as Kuh-i-Khurmuj, but possesses
also the more distinctive name of Kuh Bair ami. Below Khurmuj
town, for 15 or 20 miles, the main range is fronted, towards Dashti, by an
out work of low, sandstone hills called the Kuh-i-Kaki, terminated at its
south-east end by a gap 4 or 5 miles wide, through which the Mund river
issues from the highlands of Pars. South of the Mund gap the main range,
at first under the name of Kuh-i-Namak, resumes its course, and finally
impinges on the coast at Kangan a few miles beyond tbe end of the district.
Kuh Bairami is a huge mass of limestone, having a quaquaversal dip, and
is sometimes crowned with snow for 2 or 3 days in winter. Kuh-i-
Namak, 4,000 feet high, is of sandstone below, and towards the summit
consists largely of salt, which is visible from afar as glistening streaks
of white or gray.
A minor, but important, feature is the sandstone coast range, reaching-
height of over 2,500 feet, which bears the name of Kuh-i-Mund or Kuh-i-
Kar and is described in the article on the Tangistan district, to which it
partly belongs, and in this Gazetteer — vide Kuh-i-Mund. The trough con
tained between this subordinate range and the main range in the Khurmuj
valley, extending from near Ahram to the Mund river, with a length of
30, and a breadth of several, miles, a string of palm-leaf village extends
along its western side, and there are a few also upon the east ; it drains by
a longitudinal channel called Shur, which is 10 yards broad and contains
above 2 feet of brackish water in places, to the Mund river at Chaghapur.
Kuh-i-Namak is adjoined on its southern side by a range of which the
highest point (3,270 feet) is Kuh-i-Darang, not far from Kuh-i-Namak.
This range runs first southwards for 16 miles and then eastwards for an
equal distance ; the result is the enclosing between it and the main range
of a triangular plain, called Bu Saif, which has no open exit except at its
south-eastern corner on the coast between Daiyir and Kangan. Kuh-i-
Darang is of sandstone, and is connected with Kuh-i- Namak by mounds of
sandstone and gypsum intersected by ravines containing brackish water.
Dashti thus consists of 2 plains or valleys which both drain south-east
wards, and are separated from one another by the plain or serpentine valley
of the Mund river, of which the average direction is at right angles to theirs.
The coast of Dashti has not been thoroughly explored, and part of it is
unapproachable by vessels owing to extensive shoals. 6 miles off the
mainland at about 27 miles south-south-east of Khur Ziarat, and approxi
mately the same distance west of Daiyir, is a low islet, | mile in diameter,
called Nakhilu : it appears to be the meeting-place of several hydrographi
cal features, and marks the point where the direction of the coast changes
from south-south-east to full east. From Nakhilu a great shoal,
called Ras-ul-Mutaf, runs for nearly 20 miles to the east-south-east, with a
deep channel inside, which is open to the east, but blind at the other end
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