and the Dinarunis, with the dependencies of the Janiki Garmsir, the
Janiki Sardsir, and the Afshar tribe of Gunduzlu, remain as they were
half a century ago, when they were the subject of careful
investigation by Sir A. H. Layard and Sir H. Rawlinson.
The tribes (as enumerated by several of the Khans without any
divergence in their statements) number 29,100 families, an increase in
the last half-century. Taking eight to a household, which I believe to
be a fair estimate, a population of 232,800 would be the result.[45]
A few small villages of mud hovels at low altitudes are tenanted by a
part of their inhabitants throughout the winter, the other part
migrating with the bulk of the flocks; and 3000 families of the two
great Janiki divisions are _deh-nishins_ or "dwellers in cities,"
_i.e._ they do not migrate at all; but the rest are nomads, that is,
they have winter camping-grounds in the warm plains of Khuzistan and
elsewhere, and summer pastures in the region of the Upper Karun and
its affluents, making two annual migrations between their _garmsirs_
and _sardsirs_ (hot and cold quarters).
Though a pastoral people, they have (as has been referred to
previously) of late years irrigated, stoned, and cultivated a number
of their valleys, sowing in the early autumn, leaving the crops for
the winter and early spring, and on their return weeding them very
carefully till harvest-time in July.
They live on the produce of their flocks and herds, on leavened cakes
made of wheat and barley flour, and on a paste made of acorn flour.
In religion they are fanatical Moslems of the Shiah sect, but combine
relics of nature worship with the tenets of Islam.
The tribes, which were to a great extent united under the judicious
and ambitious policy of Mehemet Taki Khan and Hussein Kuli Khan,
nominally acknowledge one feudal head, the Ilkhani, who is associated
in power with another chief called the Ilbegi. The Ilkhani, who is
appointed by the Shah for a given period, capable of indefinite
extension, is responsible for the tribute, which amounts to about two
_tumans_ a household, and for the good order of Luri-Buzurg.
The Bakhtiaris are good horsemen and marksmen. Possibly in
inter-tribal war from 10,000 to 12,000 men might take the field, but
it is doubtful whether more than from 6000 to 8000 could be relied on
in an external quarrel.
The Khan of each tribe is practically its despotic ruler, and every
tribesman is bound to hold himself at his disposal.
As concerns tribute, they are under the government of Isfahan, with
the exception of three tribes and a half, which are under the
government of Burujird.
They are a warlike people, and though more peaceable than formerly,
they cherish blood-feuds and are always fighting among themselves.
Their habits are predatory by inclination and tradition, but they have
certain notions of honour and of regard to pledges when voluntarily
given.[46]
They deny Persian origin, but speak a dialect of Persian. Conquered
by Nadir Shah, who took many of them into his service, they became
independent after his death, until the reign of Mohammed Shah. Though
tributary, they still possess a sort of _quasi_ independence, though
Persia of late years has tightened her grip upon them, and the Shah
keeps many of their influential families in Tihran and its
neighbourhood as hostages for the good behaviour of their clans.
Of the Feili Lurs, the nomads of Luri-Kushak or the Lesser Luristan,
the region lying between the Ab-i-Diz and the Assyrian plains, with
the province of Kirmanshah to the north and Susiana to the south,
little was seen. These tribes are numerically superior to the
Bakhtiaris. Fifty years ago, according to Sir H. Rawlinson, they
numbered 56,000 families.
They have no single feudal chieftain like their neighbours, nor are
their subdivisions ruled, as among them, by powerful Khans. They are
governed by _Tushmals_ (lit. "master of a house") and four or five of
these are associated in the rule of every tribal subdivision. On such
occasions as involve tribal well-being or the reverse, these
_Tushmals_ consult as equals.
Sir H. Rawlinson considered that the Feili Lur form of government is
very rare among the clan nations of Asia, and that it approaches
tolerably near to the spirit of a confederated republic. Their
language, according to the same authority, differs little from that of
the Kurds of Kirmanshah.
Unlike the Bakhtiaris, they neglect agriculture, but they breed and
export mules, and trade in carpets, charcoal, horse-furniture, and
sheep.
In faith they are Ali Ilahis, but are grossly ignorant and religiously
indifferent; they show scarcely any respect to Mohammed and the Koran,
and combine a number of ancient superstitions and curious sacrificial
rites with a deep reverence for Sultan Ibrahim, who under the name of
_B[=a]b[=a] Buzurg_ (the great father) is worshipped throughout
Luri-Kushak.
For the tribute payable to Persia no single individual is responsible.
The sum to be levied is distributed among the tribes by a general
council, after which each subdivision apportions the amount to be paid
by the different camps, and the _Rish-Sefid_ (lit. gray-beard) or head
of each encampment collects from the different families according to
their means.
The task of the Persian tax-collector is a difficult one, for the
tribes are in a state of chronic turbulence, and fail even in
obedience to their own general council, and the collection frequently
ends in an incursion of Persian soldiers and a Government raid on the
flocks and herds. Many of these people are miserably poor, and they
are annually growing poorer under Persian maladministration.
The Feili Lurs are important to England commercially, because the
cart-road from Ahwaz to Tihran, to be completed within two years,
passes partly through their country,[47] and its success as the future
trade route from the Gulf depends upon their good-will, or rather
upon their successful coercion by the Persian Government.
FOOTNOTES:
[42] The writers who have dealt with some of the earlier portions of
my route are as follows: Henry Blosse Lynch, Esq., _Across Luristan to
Ispahan--Proceedings of the R.G.S._, September 1890. Colonel M. S.
Bell, V.C., _A Visit to the Karun River and Kum--Blackwood's
Magazine_, April 1889. Colonel J. A. Bateman Champain, R.E., _On the
Various Means of Communication between Central Persia and the
Sea--Proceedings of the R.G.S._, March 1883. Colonel H. L. Wells,
R.E., _Surveying Tours in South-Western Persia--Proceedings of
R.G.S._, March 1883. Mr. Stack, _Six Months in Persia_, London, 1884.
Mr. Mackenzie, _Speech--Proceedings of R.G.S._, March 1883. The
following among other writers have dealt with the condition of the
Bakhtiari and Feili Lurs, and with the geography of the region to the
west and south-west of the continuation of the great Zagros chain,
termed in these notes the "Outer" and "Inner" ranges of the Bakhtiari
mountains, their routes touching those of the present writer at
Khuramabad: Sir H. Rawlinson, _Notes of a March from Zohab to
Khuzistan in 1836--Journal of the R.G.S._, vol. ix., 1839. Sir A. H.
Layard, _Early Adventures in Persia, Susiana, and Babylonia, including
a residence among the Bakhtiari and other wild tribes_, 2 vols.,
London, 1887. Baron C. A. de Bode, _Travels in Luristan and
Arabistan_, 2 vols., London, 1845. W. F. Ainsworth (Surgeon and
Geologist to the Euphrates Expedition), _The River Karun_, London,
1890. General Schindler travelled over and described the Isfahan and
Shuster route, and published a map of the country in 1884.
[43] Among the trees and shrubs to be met with are an oak (_Quercus
ballota_), which supplies the people with acorn flour, the _Platanus_
and _Tamariscus orientalis_, the jujube tree, two species of elm, a
dwarf tamarisk, poplar, four species of willow, the apple, pear,
cherry, plum, walnut, gooseberry, almond, dogwood, hawthorn, ash,
lilac, alder, _Paliurus aculeatus_, rose, bramble, honeysuckle, hop
vine, grape vine, _Clematis orientalis_, _Juniperus excelsa_, and
hornbeam.
[44] In Persian _haft_ is seven, and _chakar_ four.
[45] This computation is subject to correction. Various considerations
dispose the Ilkhani and the other Khans to minimise or magnify the
population. It has been stated at from 107,000 to 275,000 souls, and
by a "high authority" to different persons as 107,000 and 211,000
souls!
[46] Sir. H. Rawlinson sums up Bakhtiari character in these very
severe words: "I believe them to be individually brave, but of a cruel
and savage character; they pursue their blood-feuds with the most
inveterate and exterminating spirit, and they consider no oath or
obligation in any way binding when it interferes with their thirst for
revenge; indeed, the dreadful stories of domestic tragedy that are
related, in which whole families have fallen by each other's hands (a
son, for instance, having slain his father to obtain the
chiefship--another brother having avenged the murder, and so on, till
only one individual was left), are enough to freeze the blood with
horror.
"It is proverbial in Persia that the Bakhtiaris have been obliged to
forego altogether the reading of the _F[=a]htihah_ or prayer for the
dead, for otherwise they would have no other occupation. They are also
most dexterous and notorious thieves. Altogether they may be
considered the most wild and barbarous of all the inhabitants of
Persia."--"Notes on a March from Zohab to Khuzistan," _Journal of the
R.G.S._, vol. ix. Probably there is an improvement since this verdict
was pronounced. At all events I am inclined to take a much more
favourable view of the Bakhtiaris than has been given in the very
interesting paper from which this quotation is made.
[47] A report to the Foreign Office (No. 207) made by an officer who
travelled from Khuramabad to Dizful in December 1890, contains the
following remarks on this route.
"As to the danger to caravans in passing through these hills, I am
inclined to believe that the Lurs are now content to abandon robbery
with violence in favour of payments and contributions from timid
traders and travellers. They hang upon the rear of a caravan; an
accident, a fallen or strayed pack animal, or stragglers in difficulty
bring them to the spot, and, on the pretence of assistance given, a
demand is made for money, in lieu of which, on fear or hesitation
being shown, they obtain such articles as they take a fancy to.
"The tribes through whose limits the road runs have annual allowances
for protecting it, but it is a question whether these are regularly
paid. It can hardly be expected that the same system of deferred and
reduced payments, which unfortunately prevails in the Persian public
service, should be accepted patiently by a starving people, who have
long been given to predatory habits, and this may account for
occasional disturbance. They probably find it difficult to understand
why payment of taxes should be mercilessly exacted upon them, while
their allowances remain unpaid. It is generally believed that they
would take readily to work if fairly treated and honestly paid, and I
was told that for the construction of the proposed cart-road there
would be no difficulty in getting labourers from the neighbouring Lur
tribes."
LETTER XIV
KAHVA RUKH, CHAHAR MAHALS, _May 4._
I left Julfa on the afternoon of April 30, with Miss Bruce as my guest
and Mr. Douglas as our escort for the first three or four days. The
caravan was sent forward early, that my inexperienced servants might
have time to pitch the tents before our arrival.
Green and pleasant looked the narrow streets and walled gardens of
Julfa under a blue sky, on which black clouds were heavily massed here
and there; but greenery was soon exchanged for long lines of mud
ruins, and the great gravelly slopes in which the mountains descend
upon the vast expanse of plain which surrounds Isfahan, on which the
villages of low mud houses are marked by dark belts of poplars,
willows, fruit-trees, and great patches of irrigated and cultivated
land, shortly to take on the yellow hue of the surrounding waste, but
now beautifully green.
Passing through Pul-i-Wargun, a large and much wooded village on the
Zainderud, there a very powerful stream, affording abundant water
power, scarcely used, we crossed a bridge 450 feet long by twelve feet
broad, of eighteen brick arches resting on stone piers, and found the
camps pitched on some ploughed land by a stream, and afternoon tea
ready for the friends who had come to give us what Persians call "a
throw on the road." I examined my equipments, found that nothing
essential was lacking, initiated my servants into their evening
duties, especially that of tightening tent ropes and driving tent pegs
well in, and enjoyed a social evening in the adjacent camp.
The next day's journey, made under an unclouded sky, was mainly along
the Zainderud, from which all the channels and rills which nourish the
vegetation far and near are taken. A fine, strong, full river it is
there and at Isfahan in spring, so prolific in good works that one
regrets that it should be lost sixty miles east of Isfahan in the
Gas-Khana, an unwholesome marsh, the whole of its waters disappearing
in the _Kavir_. Many large villages with imposing pigeon-towers lie
along this part of its course, surrounded with apricot and walnut
orchards, wheat and poppy fields, every village an oasis, and every
oasis a paradise, as seen in the first flush of spring. On a slope of
gravel is the Bagh-i-Washi, with the remains of an immense enclosure,
where the renowned Shah Abbas is said to have had a menagerie. Were it
not for the beautiful fringe of fertility on both margins of the
Zainderud the country would be a complete waste. The opium poppy is in
bloom now. The use of opium in Persia and its exportation are always
increasing, and as it is a very profitable crop, both to the
cultivators and to the Government, it is to some extent superseding
wheat.
Leaving the greenery we turned into a desert of gravel, crossed some
low hills, and in the late afternoon came down upon the irrigated
lands which surround the large and prosperous village of Riz, the
handsome and lofty pigeon-towers of which give it quite a fine
appearance from a distance.
These pigeon-towers are numerous, both near Isfahan and in the
villages along the Zainderud, and are everywhere far more imposing
than the houses of the people. Since the great famine, which made a
complete end of pigeon-keeping for the time, the industry has never
assumed its former proportions, and near Julfa many of the towers are
falling into ruin.
The Riz towers, however, are in good repair. They are all built in the
same way, varying only in size and height, from twenty to fifty feet
in diameter, and from twenty-five to eighty feet from base to summit.
They are "round towers," narrowing towards the top. They are built of
sun-dried bricks of local origin, costing about two _krans_ or 16d. a
thousand, and are decorated with rings of yellowish plaster, with
coarse arabesques in red ochre upon them. For a door there is an
opening half-way up, plastered over like the rest of the wall.
Two walls, cutting each other across at right angles, divide the
interior. I am describing from a ruined tower which was easy of
ingress. The sides of these walls, and the whole of the inner surface
of the tower, are occupied by pigeon cells, the open ends of which are
about twelve inches square. According to its size a pigeon-tower may
contain from 2000 to 7000, or even 8000, pairs of pigeons. These birds
are gray-blue in colour.
A pigeon-tower is a nuisance to the neighbourhood, for its occupants,
being totally unprovided for by their proprietor, live upon their
neighbours' fields. In former days it must have been a grand sight
when they returned to their tower after the day's depredations. "Who
are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?"
probably referred to a similar arrangement in Palestine.
The object of the towers is the preservation and collection of "pigeon
guano," which is highly prized for the raising of early melons. The
door is opened once a year for the collection of this valuable manure.
A large pigeon-tower used to bring its owner from L60 to L75 per
annum, but a cessation of the great demand for early melons in the
neighbourhood of Isfahan has prevented the re-stocking of the towers
since the famine.
Our experiences of Riz were not pleasant. One of the party during a
short absence from his tent was robbed of a very valuable scientific
instrument. After that there was the shuffling sound of a multitude
outside the tent in which Miss Bruce and I were resting, and women
concealed from head to foot in blue and white checked sheets,
revealing but one eye, kept lifting the tent curtain, and when that
was laced, applying the one eye to the spaces between the lace-holes,
whispering and tittering all the time. Hot though it was, their
persevering curiosity prevented any ventilation, and the steady gaze
of single eyes here, there, and everywhere was most exasperating. It
was impossible to use the dressing tent, for crowds of boys assembled,
and rows of open mouths and staring eyes appeared between the _fly_
and the ground. Vainly Miss Bruce, who speaks Persian well and
courteously, told the women that this intrusion on our privacy when we
were very tired was both rude and unkind. "We're only women," they
said, "_we_ shouldn't mind it, we've never seen so many Europeans
before." Sunset ended the nuisance, for then the whole crowd, having
fasted since sunrise, hurried home for food.
The great fast of the month of Ramazan began before we left Julfa.
Moslems are not at their best while it lasts. They are apt to be
crabbed and irritable; and everything that can be postponed is put off
"till after Ramazan."
Much ostentation comes out in the keeping of it; very pious people
begin to fast before the month sets in. A really ascetic Moslem does
not even swallow his saliva during the fast, and none but very old or
sick people, children, and travellers, are exempt from the obligation
to taste neither food nor water, and not even to smoke during
daylight, for a whole month. The penance is a fearful one, and as the
night is the only time for feasting, the Persians get through as much
of the day as possible in sleep.
Welcome indeed is the sunset. With joy men fill their pipes and drink
tea as a prelude to the meal eaten an hour afterwards. Hateful is the
dawn and the cry an hour before it, "Water! oh, water and opium!"--the
warning to the faithful to drink largely and swallow an opium pill
before sunrise. The thirst even in weather like this, and the
abstention from smoking, are severer trials than the fasting from
food. The Persian either lives to smoke, or smokes to live.
Although travellers are nominally exempt from the fast from water at
least, pious Moslems do not avail themselves of the liberty. Hadji
Hussein, for instance, is keeping it as rigidly as any one, and, like
some others, marches with the end of his _pagri_ tucked over his mouth
and nose, a religious affectation, supposed to prevent the breaking of
the fast by swallowing the animalculae which are believed to infest the
air!
Beyond Riz, everywhere there are arid yellow mountains and yellow
gravelly plains, except along the Zainderud, where fruit-trees, wheat,
and the opium poppy relieve the eyes from the glare. We took leave of
the Zainderud at Pul-i-Kala, where it is crossed by a dilapidated but
passable and very picturesque stone bridge of eight arches, and the
view from the high right bank of wood, bridge, and the vigorous green
river is very pretty.
Little enough of trees or greenery have we seen since. This country,
like much of the great Iranian plateau, consists of high mountains with
broad valleys or large or small plateaux between them, absolutely
treeless, and even now nearly verdureless, with scattered oases wherever
a possibility of procuring water by means of laboriously-constructed
irrigation canals renders cultivation possible.
Water is scarce and precious; its value may be gathered from the
allusions made by the Persian poets to fountains, cascades, shady
pools, running streams, and bubbling springs. Such expressions as
those in Scripture, "rivers of waters," "a spring of water whose
waters fail not," convey a fulness of meaning to Persian ears of which
we are quite ignorant. The first inquiry of a Persian about any part
of his own country is, "Is there water?" the second, "Is the water
good?" and if he wishes to extol any particular region he says "the
water is abundant all the year, and is sweet, there is no such water
anywhere."
The position of a village is always determined by the water supply,
for the people have not only to think of water for domestic purposes,
but for irrigating their crops, and this accounts for the packing of
hamlets on steep mountain sides where land for cultivation can only be
obtained by laborious terracing, but where some perennial stream can
be relied on for filling the small canals. The fight for water is one
of the hardest necessities of the Persian peasant. A water famine of
greater or less degree is a constant peril.
Land in Persia is of three grades, the wholly irrigated, the partially
irrigated, and the "rain-lands," usually uplands, chiefly suited for
pasturage. The wholly irrigated land is the most productive. The
assessments for taxes appear to leave altogether out of account the
relative fertility of the land, and to be calculated solely on the
supply of water. A winter like the last, of heavy snow, means a
plenteous harvest, _i.e._ "twelve or fourteen grains for one," as the
peasants put it; a scanty snowfall means famine, for the little rain
which falls is practically of scarcely any use.
The plan for the distribution of water seems to be far less
provocative of quarrels than that of some other regions dependent on
irrigation, such as Ladak and Nubra. Where it is at all abundant, as
it is in this Zainderud valley, it is only in the great heats of
summer that it is necessary to apportion it with any rigidity. It is
then placed in the hands of a _mirab_ or water officer, who allows it
to each village in turn for so many days, during which time the
villages above get none, or the _ketchudas_ manage it among themselves
without the aid of a _mirab_, for the sad truth, which is applicable
to all Persian officialism, applies in the _mirab's_ case, that if a
village be rich enough to bribe him it can get water out of its turn.
The blessedness of the Zainderud valley is exceptional, and the
general rule in the majority of districts is that the water must be
carefully divided and be measured by "_tashts_," each _tasht_ being
equivalent to the use of the water supply for eleven minutes.
"This space of time is estimated in a very ancient fashion by floating
a copper bowl with a needle hole in the bottom in a large vessel of
water. The _tasht_ comes to an end as the bowl sinks. The distribution
is regulated by the number of _tashts_ that each man has a right to.
If he has a right to twenty he will receive water for three and
three-quarter hours of the day or night every tenth day." Land without
water in Persia is about as valuable as the "south lands" were which
were given to Caleb's daughter.
So far as I can learn, the Persian peasant enjoys a tolerable security
of tenure so long as he pays his rent. A common rate of rent is
two-thirds of the produce, but on lands where the snow lies for many
months, even when they are "wet lands," it is only one-third; but this
system is subject to many modifications specially arising out of the
finding or non-finding of the seed by the owner, and there is no
uniformity in the manner of holding land or in assessing the taxes or
in anything else, though the system established 1400 years ago is
still the basis of the whole.[48]