'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOL. III.' [‎68r] (140/982)

are b} r various paths joining the Fallahieh*Eamzu route, which runs along
the bank of the Jarrahi l iver, at cliff L : eiit points.
Character of the ; iffnjc.--Ma's! ur village stands upon a mound which
has the appearance of being artificial, but in alJ probability consists merely
of the accumulated debris of a long inhabited site, A ruined hurj dominates
the place, and there are 3 mosques, of which the best was built in the present
generation by one Haji Naslr, a merchant of the place. The houses are of
the type usual in this part of Persia ; they are of mud with mud roofs and
each of them encloses its own courtyard. Around the village, outside, are
scattered the roofless mud walls of diminutive huts, which are occupied
during the wheat harvest when the grain is heaped up outside the village.
Sanitation is disregarded, and drinking water is largely drawn from a stag
nant pool, the same as that in which clothes are washed. The atmosphere
in summer is said to be very damp and the heat oppressive.
Inhabitarts. —The population of Ma’shur village is about 1,500 souls;
as a whole the people are healthy and well-favoured in appearance. Half
of them are Bandaris or Bandarieh and are said to be connected with the
BanI Turuf, but this point is very doubtful and the Bandaris themselves
profess ignorance of their origin ; the remainder are described as Qanavatis
frem Behbehan. The Bandaris are said to have been the founders of the
place and the Qanavatis later immigrants.
The entire community is bidingual, speaking both Persian and Arabic ;
but anrug themselves the pec pie use a low form of Persian of the Lur type.
Their dress is in the main ’Arab in pattern, but it is not free, especially in
the case of women, from Persian modifications. Men wear the Arab
Kafieh or kerchief, the ’Arab ’Aqul or head fillet and the ’Arab ’Aha or
cloak ; underneath the last is a Zabun or long cotton coat reachino- to the
heels. Women all wear the ’Aba, their coiffure is ’Arab and the Persian
Burqa’ is not seen among them. On the other hand, trousers frequently
form a part of their costume, shoes are worm—which are not found among
’Arab women of the lower classes—and as children, they frequently adopt
the bandag - round the forehead which is not assumed by ’Arab women
until after marriage,
Until two generations ago the permanent inhabitants of Ma’shur were all
Sunnis, at least so the people themselves aver; now they are all Shi’ahs.
Ma’shur is at present the seat of a Mulla named Shaikh Husain, who has
considerable local influence and receives Zaqat even from the villages on
the Jarralff, His sentiments are believed to be anti-European. The
people of Ma’shur are fairly well armed and possess in all about ICO rifles.
Agriculture and Livestock. —There are traces of extensive irrigated culti
vation to the north and west of Ma’shur village, but the fields have long
ceased to ex ; st. The necessary supply of water is said to have been drawn
from the Jarrahi by means of a dam at Haddaneh, There is now no irri
gation on the north side of Ma’shur, nor is any met with on going westward
till the Khatar canal of the S' atul tract is reached near Imamzadeh ’Abdul
Hasan in the FalJahleh district. Cultivation is now restricted to 50 or 60
khlsh or ploughs of land in the neighbourhood of the village, on which
precarious crops of wheat and barley are grown by rainfall alone.
Water-supply and other resources. —Rain-water is collected on the east
gide of the town by an embankment faced with brick, built about 10 years