GERRHA (Arab. al-

See also:

• JAR

Jar'a)  , an ancient city of Arabia, on the west side of the Persian Gulf, described by Strabo (Bk. xvi.) as inhabited by Chaldean exiles from Babylon, who built their houses of salt and repaired them by the application of salt water . Pliny (His' . Nat. vi . 32) says it was 5 M. in circumference with towers built of square blocks of salt . Various identifications of the site have been attempted, J . P . B . D'Anville choosing El Katif, C . Niebuhr preferring Kuwet and C . Forster suggesting the ruins at the head of the bay behind the islands of Bahrein . See A . Sprenger, Die alte Geographie Arabiens (Bern, 1875), pp .

135-137 . GERR$S, a small

province of Persia, situated between Khamseh and Azerbaijan in the N., Kurdistan in the W. and Hamadan in 'the S . Its population is estimated at 80,000, and its capital, Bijar, 18o m. from Hamadan, has a population ofabout 4000 and post and telegraph offices . The province is fief of the chief of the Gerrfls Kurds, pays a yearly revenue of about £3000, and supplies a battalion of infantry (the 34th) to the army .