"دليل كرمانشاه." [ظ‎‎٩‎٧] (٥٠٤/١٩٩)

104
The Iliyats break up tbeir winter encampments one month after the
festival or the Nanruz, ^ one month after the sun has entered the sio*n
^Aries’, and travel by easy journeys of 2 to 3 miles each day to what they call
the 4 Sardiadd % or the boundary between the cold and hot regions ; there
they stay for about a month, and then travel on again to their Ilak, where
they encamp during the heat of summer, and where they remain about seventy
days; they then return to the f sar-haddwhere they remain another
month, and at length reach their old haunts in the Kishlak for the winter.
Many direct their motions by the rising of the stars, and many by the
appearance of the snowy mountains. They are unmolested in their passage,
and, perhaps, may give a sheep or so to the lords of the villages near which
they travel* The ground upon which they encamp is improved by their
presence, since it is strengthened by the manure they leave.
“ Their mode of calculating property is by sbeep; they pay their shepherds
in sheep. In their own dealings, in their purchase of oxen,etc., they pay in
sheep. A man killing one of their dogs is liable to be fined 4 sheep.
Among the villages, too, in their smaller dealings, the Persian Rayah deals
with his neighbour, not in money but in kind—corn, wool, straw, etc.
Three months after the Nauruz they separate the rams from the ewes, and
feed them till they are‘ must \ At the beginning of the sign Mizan, or
Libra, they turn them into the flock, by which the ewes bear at about the
Nauruz, and some of the Iliyats celebrate this event by music, son^s,
and merry-making. Shearing takes place twice in tbe year; the first
time after the Nauruz, about the 20th of May; and the second at the
Mizan.^ They give, of their wool and other produce of their flocks,
which is called by the general name of ‘kashf/ to the poor in alms.
At the time of the new lambs they take portions of their milk, which
they make into curds, cream, haimak, and fresh cheese ; and send it to their
friends as a complimentary gift, marking the return of the season. A
shepherd has care of three hundred sheep, and is paid in kind, both in wool
and lambs.
“From what has been said, it is evident that the Iliyats, as raw
material for the formation of troops, must be of considerable consequence
to the state of which they are the subjects. They are soldiers by nature,
as far as the mere habit of the man goes, but it must be added, they are
difficult of discipline owing to their clan-like propensities. Those on the
frontier frequently give rise to feuds and war.
“ One of the great sources of bickering, between the Turks and Persians,
are the Kurds on the frontier, who migrate from the one State to the
other as best suits their humour and interest. Good legislation would,
no doubt, soon turn tbem into peaceable and industrious communities;
but as tbe eastern G overnments are at present constituted the vast regions
inhabited by these wanderers must continue mere tracts of waste, adapted
solely to the uses of armed shepherds and lawless freebooters. (Morier).
“ Tbe system of Government, pursued in these tribes, is the same
throughout the whole of the tribes of Persia. Each tribe has its chief, who
exercises an unlimited authority over its members.
c( The tushmal are merely chiefs of families or of subdivisions, who are
employed in collecting the tribute, and are considered responsible to the
chief for the good order and allegiance of those placed under their care.