628 BEPORT— 1882. 



G. The Dominion of Canada, especially with regard to the Geography of the 

 North-West Territory. By Cyril Graham, C.M.G., F.E.O.S. 



TUESDA T, A UGUST 29. 

 The following Report and Papers were read : — 



1. Eeport of the Committee appointed for the purpose of promoting the Survey 

 of Eastern Falestine. — See Reports, p. 296. 



2. On some unexplored or little hnov:n parts of Persia. 

 By Colonel Sir Oliver St. John, B.E., K.C.S.I. 



This was an account of a journey hy a partially unexplored road from Bushire to 

 the interior, mainly interesting as being that hy which the Persian army brought 

 its guns to the coast in the war of 1856-7, and as passing through the country 

 occupied by the Kashkais, the principal tribe of Toork nomads in Fars. Though less 

 difficult than the ordinary route, it is rarely if ever used by caravans, owing to the 

 want of water on one or more stages, and the liability to attack by the nomads. 

 Leaving Bushire on March 8, the author, who was accompanied by Ladj' St. John, 

 marched through Ahram to Khormuj at the foot of the mountain of that name, 

 well known in the Persian gulf as a prominent landmark. Here the travellers were 

 entertained by the chief of the district of Dashti, of which Khormuj is the principal 

 place. This part of the country had suffered little from the famine then raging 

 owing to the staple diet of the people being dates, of which the harvest had been 

 abundant, but the horses, the breeding of which used to be a source of considerable 

 profit, had nearly all perished from bad or insufficient nourishment. Leaving 

 Khormuj, Sir 0. St. John marched to La web, whence a difficult pass, called the 

 Tang-i-sehdar, ' The Defile of the Three Gates,' brought him in two days to Kalima, 

 only twelve miles from Ahram as the crow flies. The detour made was about 

 70 miles, and was necessitated by the impossibility of getting loaded mules through 

 the pass which directly connects Ahram and Kalima. This latter village, 1,000 

 feet above the sea, is in the lowest of the terrace-like valleys intervening between 

 the highlands and the coast. Two long marches brought the party to the large 

 village of Farashband in the wide grassy valley, 3,000 feet above the sea, which 

 occupies the second of the terraces, and forms the winter grazing-grounds of the 

 nomad tribes of Toorks called Kashgais, from Kashgar in Central Asia, whence 

 their ancestors emigrated into Persia, in the train of Jaiigis Khan or one of his suc- 

 cessors. From Farashband the party marched N.W. along the valley to beyond 

 Jereh, where they were entertained lor several days bj^ Ali Kuli Khan, the llbegi, 

 or second chief of the Kashgais. t'oncerning the manners and customs of this 

 important and powerful tribe many details were giA'en, which, however, do not permit 

 of compression. On leaving the llbegi's camp, a march of fifteen miles brought Sir 

 0. St. John to the high road between Bushire and Shiraz, which is well known. 



3. On the various means of communication hetiveen Central Bersia and the 

 Sea. By Lieut. -Colonel J. W. Batejian Champain, B.E., F.B.G.S. 



The author began bj' drawing attention to the very defective means of loco- 

 motion in Persia, and briefly described the troubles and inconveniences which travel- 

 lers in this country are compelled to encounter. The Government pays little or no 

 attention to the communications ; and the caravanserais, causeways, and bridges 

 which exist are nearly always the work of private individuals, who leave them after 

 completion to take care of themselves. 



Persia is a country of about 000,000 square miles in extent, but with one excep- 

 tion boasts of not a single navigable river or canal. It may be described as a 

 plateau averaging from 3,000 to 5,000 feet above the level of the sea, and although 



