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Thus in the earliest ages the Bamishir was, I believe, one of the true channels
of the Karoon, but when the science of geography revived undor the enlightened
rule of the Caliphs of Baghdad and an attempt was made to lix the demarkation
of the various provinces of the Empire, it is quite certain from the united
authorities of nil authors, that the Karoon joining with the Jorrahi in a large
marsh near tho site of the modern city of Guban, disembogued into the sea in a
delta about the Khuri-Moosa. There is no trace in the early Arab geugraph-
I’rncllenl applicoiion of it in marking the old CIS of aUV Connection between tllC KarOOll
imeof iiontior. and Bamishir. On the contrary, in the
maps of Jeghani, which date from the ‘1th century of Islam, the line dividing
Khuzistan and I rak-i-Arab is drawn from tho sea coast, midway between the
mouth of the Bamishir and the Kliur-i-Moosa and is prolonged in a north­
western. direction, parallel to the course of the Shat and Tigris, and at a sufficient
distance from these rivers to shut out from Khuzistan all the lands upon their
hanks deriving water from them, as high as the 32 degree of latitude.
At this period, as is expressly stated by numerous authors, the Bamishir
river was the left branch of the Euphrates, and the lands receiving water from
it were consequently included in Irak-i-Arab.
About tho 6th century of the Ilejr.a we find tho first notice of the dis-
Ttendored fluctuating and perplexed from tl.o CIUbogueiliejlt of a branch of tllC KarOOn
cii&ngc in thocuunct «f iiio river*. into the Bamishir, lmt it is worthy of
remark that, tho latter river was not tho less considered the eastern exit of the
Euphrates, from which I infer that the water must have run from theShat through
the Half nr into the Bamishir instead of as at present from the Karoon through
the Ha liar into the Thai. Of course, under such circumstances, the country
along the Karoon to the point of its junction with tho Bamishir would alone
ho gained by Khuzistan that along the llaffar and the Bamishir, “ drinking **
the water of tho Euphrates, would continue to belong to Bussorah.
But by degree the waters of the Karoon appear to have altogether deserted
the eastern branch, and then it must have been, that tho whole body of the
river, flowing into the Bamishir, not merely filled that bed exclusively with its
own stream, lmt. forced its way also into the Shat, through the HafTar canal,
and thus elTectcdan important change in tho limits of the Persian Empire; for,
according to the old distribution, the lands along the Halfar and the Bamishir,
would, under such circumstances,' become subordinate to Khuzistan. If, in­
deed, we follow fchc original principle of allotment, we must admit that when
Sheikh Salman threw his dam across the Karoon to replenish thcGuban river
ho restored the lands of the Halfar and Bamishir to Turkey, for the pressure of
the water of the Karoon being diminished, the Euphrates doubtless resumed
its former course, and again, when Kerim Khan destroyed the dam, he must have
recovered these lands for-Persia, as the force of the Karoon concentrated in one
stream would now prevail over the Euphrates, and appropriate to itself, the
channels of the Bamishir and llallar.
We have, I confess, in modern times, very little proof of the practical
Difficulty of verifying the piinniple in modem Working of this distribution J for the
science of geography has been almost
extinct, in the cast, since the age of the Oliunghizian Kings. Up to that period,
certainly the towns near the Persian Gulf, which * -are mentioned in oriental
authors, as dependent on Bussorah and on Khuzistan, are thoso respectively
watered by the Euphrates and the Karoon, hut shortly before the rise of tho
Instance of departure from it in rcfcrcucti lo Sullavoan dynasty, the town of Guban is
lands of (Subau. reported in the country, to have been
founded by emigrants from Bussorah, near the sitoof the ancient llasn JHehdi,
and to have been placed under tho protection of the Government of tho former
city, which must have thereby extended its political frontier, far beyond its
proper geographical limits.
A line of Princes reigned in this province it is said for 150 years, dignified
by tho name of Pashas, and the authority of the Mohan namn, a Turkish wort
of this period, in brought forward to show, that these Pashas of’Guban were
subordinate to the Government of Bussorah. As fur as I can ascertain, tho
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