SHU 



Sabla, are uninhabited, and confequently almoil wholly un- 

 cultivated, and covered with brufti-wood, the refort of lions, 

 wild bears, and other animals. MorafTes are common. 

 The Chab country is watered by three rivers, -uiz. ift, the 

 Karoon, fuppofed by fome geographers to be the ancient 

 Choafpes, but Kinneir difputes their identity ; it rifes 22 

 furfungs S.W. of Ifpahan, and after receiving many tn- 

 butary'ilreams in the mountains of Lauriftan, flows through 

 the city of Shufter to the village of Bundekeel, eight fur- 

 fungs to the S. of that city, where it meets the Abzal : 

 piirfuing thence a foutherly courfe, as far as Sabla, N. lat. 

 30° 32', and 30 miles E. of Baffora, it divides itfelf into 

 two branches, one of which difcharges itfelf into the fea 

 at Goban, and the other, affuming the name of Hafar, 

 feparates, after a courfe of 14 miles, into two branches, 

 one of which pafTes through an artificial canal, three miles 

 in length, into the Shat-ul-Arab, and the other enters the 

 fea by the name of the Bamifliire. 2dly. The Tab, which 

 fee ; and the 3d is the Jerahi, or ancient Pafitigris, 

 which defcends from the mountains behind Bebahan, in the 

 province of Fars, and paffing within a few miles of the 

 walls of that city, runs through the vale of Ram Hormuz 

 to old Dorak, in the territory of the Chab Sheikh. Here 

 it is difperfed in various direftions for the purpofe of agri- 

 culture ; and the water afterwards is loH, or occafions the 

 vatl morafl'es in the vicinity of modern Dorak. The prin- 

 cipal towns in the dittrid of Chab Sheikh are, Dorak 

 or Felahi, Ahwaz, Etidian, Mafhoor, Goban, and Jerahi, 

 ■whence the river, fo called, derives its name. The revenues 

 of the Chab Sheikh amount to five lacs of piaftres, or 

 about 5:0,000/. fterhng a-year; and he can bring into the field 

 5000 horfe, and 20,000 foot. 



The territories attached to the government of Shufter 

 conftitute the faireft portion of Sufiana. It derives its 

 iertility from four noble rivers, and from a multitude of 

 fmaller ftreams. This wealthy province, which, according 

 to Strabo, yielded to the hufbandman 100 or even 200 

 fold, and was rich in its produftions of cotton, fugar, rice, 

 and grain, is now, for the greateil part, a forfaken waite. 

 The only indications to the contrary occur between Bun- 

 dekeel, Dezphoul, the vicinity of Haweeza, and the vale of 

 Ram Hormuz. From the Abzal to the Tigris, and the 

 river Gyndes, on the weftern fide, and from the banks of 

 the Karoon to thofe of the Shat-ul-Arab, all is dreary and 

 defolate ; and on the E. fide of Shuiter a lonely wild, up- 

 wards of 60 miles in length, extends from that city to the 

 entrance of the valley of Ram Hormuz. Although the 

 inhabitants of the towns and villages groan under the arbi- 

 trary fway of the governor of Shufter, his authority is 

 hardly acknowledged by the wandering tribes, both Perfian 

 and Arabian, of Kuzillan. Of the four great rivers which 

 cmbellifh and fertilize the diilri£t of Shuller, Karoon de- 

 ferves the firft mention. Next in magnitude is the Abzal, 

 which has two fources, one in the Siiutur Koh, near 

 Boorojird, and the other in the mountains of Lauriftan : 

 thefe form a junftion N. of Dezphoul, and afterpafiing under 

 the walls of that city, empty thcmfelves, after a winding 

 courfe, into the Karoon, at Bundekeel. The third river is 

 the Kerah, or Haweeza river, called by the Turks the 

 Karafu, which is formed by the junftion of many llieams 

 in the province of Ardelan, in Kurdiftan : it runs through 

 the plain of Kermanlhaw, meeting the Kazawur and the Ga- 

 mafu. The Karafu, increafed in magnitude by tributary 

 ftreams, flows with a furious courfe towards Kuziftan, and 

 fupplied with an acceffion of water, it paflTes on the W. of 

 the ruins of Shus to the city of Haweeza, and enters the 

 Shat-ul-Arab, about twenty miles below Korna. The 



SHU 



fourth river is that fuppofed by Mr. Kinneir to be the 

 ancient Gyndes, which proceeds from an unknown fource 

 in the mountains of Lauriftan, and joins the Tigris between 

 Koot and Korna. 



Shufter, the capital of Kuziftan, and the refidence of 3 

 Beglerbeg, is fituated in N. lat 32°. E. long. 48" 59', at 

 the foot of the mountains of Bucktiari, on an eminence com- 

 manding the rapid courfe of the Karoon, acrofs which is 

 a bridge of one arch, upwards of eighty feet high, from the 

 fummit of which the Perfians often throw themfelves into the 

 water, without the flighteft injury. On the weftern fide it is 

 defended by the river, and on the other fide by the old ilone 

 wall, now fallen into decay. Tlie houfes are good, being 

 principally built of ftone, but the ftreets are narrow and 

 dirty. The population, confifting of Perfians and Arabians, 

 exceeds iy,ooo fouls ; and it has a confiderable manufadlure 

 of woollen ftufFs, which are exported to Baftbra, in return 

 for the Indian commodities brought from thence. This 

 city is generally believed to be the ancient Sufa ; but 

 fome approved geographers entertain a different opinion. 

 (See Shus.) Shus, in the old Perfian language, means 

 pleafing, or delightful, and Shufter ftill more delight- 

 ful ; and the name is faid to be given to this city by 

 Sapor, the fon of Artaxerxes Babegan, by whom it was 

 founded, and caufed to be built under the infpeClion of his 

 prifoner, the Roman emperor Valerian. It was once, 

 without queftion, a place of vaft extent, and no inconfiderable 

 magnitude. The caftle, dyke, and bridge, are moft worthy 

 of notice. The caille occupies a fmall hill at the weftern ex- 

 tremity of the town, commanding a fine view of the river, 

 mountains, and adjoining country. This fortreis is, on 

 two fides, defended by a ditch, now almoft choaked up 

 with fand, and on the other two fides by a branch of the 

 Karoon. It has one gate-way, formerly entered by a draw- 

 bridge. The hill is almoft entirely excavated, and formed 

 into furdahs and fubterraneous aqueducts, through which 

 the water ftill continues to flow. Near the caftle is the 

 dyke, or '» bund," built by Sapor acrofs the Karoon, with 

 a view of turning a large proportion of the water into a 

 channel more favourable for agriculture, than that which 

 nature had afiigned it. This dyke is conftrufted of cut 

 ftone, bound together by clamps of iron, about 20 feet 

 broad, and 400 yards long, with two fmall arclies in the 

 middle. It has lately been rebuilt by Mahomet Ali Meerza, 

 governor of Kermanftiaw, and its beneficial effeifs are 

 already experienced. The artificial canal, occafioned by ' 

 the conftrudion of this .^yke, difembogues, after a long 

 winding courfe, into the Dezphoul, half a mile from Bun- 

 dekeel. Near tlie canal is a bridge, built of hewn ftone, 

 confifting of 32 arches, 28 of which are yet entire. The 

 city of Shufter is fo remarkable for its falubrity, as to be 

 the continual refort of invalids from the furrounding ter- 

 ritories. In fummer the heats are exceffive from nine in the 

 morning to the fame hour at night, when the air is refrethed 

 by a gentle breeze from the N.W. During the day the 

 inhabitants take refuge in fubterraneous chambers, and pafs 

 the night on the flat roofs of their houfes. The winters are 

 mild, and the fprings temperate and delightful. Shufter 

 affords excellent fprings. Kinneir's Geog. Mem. of the 

 Perfian Empire. 



SHUT in Land. See Land. 



SHUTESBURY,in Geography, a townftiip of America, 

 in Hampftiire county, Maflachufetts, on the E. fide of 

 Connedicut river ; 90 miles W. by N. from Boftoa, con- 

 taining 939 inliabitants. 



SHUTTING, in yinchor- Making, denotes joining or 

 welding one piece of iron to another. 



Shimtinc- 



