1859.] Carter on the Persian Gulf. 41 



Report on Geological Specimens from the Persian Gulf collected by 

 Lieut. C. G. Constable, I. N. — By H. J. Carter, Esq., Bombay. 



This Report has, so far as the Persian Gulf i3 concerned, been 

 drawn up partly on Geographical, and entirely on Geological, data 

 specimens and sketches furnished by Lieut. 0. G. Constable, I. N., 

 who, assisted by Lieut. A. W. Sfciffe, also of the I. JN\, has been, 

 and still is, employed in surveying parts of the Gulf; and in 

 whose accuracy I have reason from actual experience, to place 

 every confidence. 



Geography. — Sailing northwards from Muscat, we observe that the 

 great chain of mountains behind the town known by the name of 

 Jibel Akdthur, or the '• Green Mountains," is continued on to 

 Kas Mussundum, which forms the western promontory of the 

 Persian Gulf, where they suddenly sink to an altitude of 400 feet, 

 while not more than thirty miles further back there is a point 

 6,700 feet high. The Straits themselves are also about thirty miles 

 broad, and on the opposite side the land slopes into the sea with a 

 more or less even shore and without promontory for a considerable 

 distance north and south, forming a strong contrast with the intense- 

 ly fretted out and rocky termination of the chain on the Arabian 

 side. Striking, however, as the contrast is at these two points, 

 there are two mountains within sight of Eas Mussundum on the 

 opposite coast, which are respectively 8,500 and 5 to 6,000 feet 

 above the level of the sea ; the first, which is Jibel Shemeel, is about 

 70 miles northward, and the other, called Jibel Bees, about 60 miles 

 eastward. These, then must be regarded as the two pillars of the 

 Straits on the eastern or Asiatic side. 



Again, from the Straits westwards, if we trace the shores of the 

 Gulf, it will be observed, that while the north-eastern side is bor- 

 dered by the mountainous chain of which Jibel Shemeel forms 

 a part and which continued on north-westwards up into Khour- 

 distan, borders the Mesopotamiau valley under the name of the 

 Khourd Mountain, the south-western or Arabian side is, with 

 the exception of a low hill here and there, only a few feet above 

 the level of the sea, from the western promontory of the Straits 



G 



