"تقرير عسكري حول عربستان (المنطقة رقم ١٣)." [و‎‎٢‎٨] (٣٦٦/٦٠)

Mianab : the third over the dam by the Pul-i-Bulaiti to the east
and connecting with a village of the same name, which is virtually
a suburb of the city.
The houses of Shushtar, though of some height and architec
tural pretensions, are mostly old and in bad repair, while some
parts of the town are in ruins and deserted. The majority of the
houses are provided with sub-terranean chambers. There is no
sanitation in the town. In the bazaar, which was greatly im
proved in 1920, there are 440 shops. There are also 380 shops
scattered over the town. The permanent shops are mostly
located in the street leading through the centre of the town on
the Pul-i-Bulaiti. Two caravan serais have lately been built
containing 21 shops and 21 rooms for merchants. This brings
the number of caravanserais up to 6. There are 12 baths and
6 coffee shops. There is one bank, the Imperial Bank of Persia
under a British Manager. The bank is used to a very large extent
by the merchants. There are some 50 4 Imamzadehs 5 and 30
4 kadamgahs’).
(6) Camping grounds .—A camping ground of some 6 acres is
available when not under cultivation on the south side of the
arsenal. The recognised camping ground, however, is just
below the Pul-i-Qaisari and close to the aerodrome. For any
other camping grounds it would be necessary to cross to the right
bank of the Shatait, where there is ample room for any numbers.
(c) Inhabitants .—-The present population of Shushtar is
about 20,000. The great bulk of the inhabitants are of an indi
genous type, commonly supposed to be Assyrian, but of a mixed
origin and are generally called Shushtaris. They speak a Persian
patois resembling but distinguishable from that of the Dizfulis.
They are Shi’ahs : their most prominent sections are the Sayids,
Mashaikh, Khawanin and merchants. The town itself contains
no Arabs but a few Bakhtriatis. A very great number of
Shushtaris are employed by the A. P. O. C. in the Maidan-i-
Naftun oil fields.
In recent years the temperament, and indeed whole policy
of Shushtar, has been governed by the hated Kalantar family,
who though so generally disliked are powerful enough to influence
the population. The Kalantar outbreak, as it is known, occurred
in November 1917, when Haji Sayid Abdullah, Imam Jumah of
Shushtar, was murdered, as the result of a plot on the part of the
MC164CGS