'Military Report on South-West Persia, Including the Provinces of Khuzistan (Arabistan), Luristan, and Part of Fars' [‎171] (166/466)

V 171
Stationing in each 100 infantry and 10 cavalrymen to guard the caravan
serais and to furnish guards for the road, and keeping in hand a mobile force
W t ln . fantr y an< ^ cavall T to mov e on any required point within a few
Dit i rnonthSj it may be confidently assumed that this small force of 800 infantry and
'III 170 cavalry wdl have completely pacified the district, and the scandal of a
, ?i! 0P ^ ' l th ® ] v 1 er y eentre of p ersia refusing to acknowledge the authority of
the Shah will be done away with.
1 B J f k h tfari ® smile at the state . of anil's in Lnr-i-Kuchak, and the
liknani, it allowed, would soon reducG it to order.
It is very doubtful, however, whether this anarchy is not connived at for
■ '^1 Persian exclusireness. political reasons. To open the Karun to navigation,
. aQ( ^ ^ le roa( is through Luristan to commerce, is, to the
mind of the Shah, to give the foreigner a footing in Shustar and Dizfdl to
enrich the Lurs and Arabs, and to strengthen a part of the country still
^ unsubdued and occupied by alien races and but scantily by Persians.
W1 Time to traverse . commercial enterprise time is an important factor,
ifilaii;; through-routes to Teh- influencing the cost of delivery. The average time that
•k j ran ' a caravan from Bushire takes to reach Tehrln is 40 days'
Mk A caravan from Muhammerah takes on an average 31 days, and from
Telaii t ' hustar 24 da y s - Allowing three days for the passage of goods by
steamers from Muhammerah to Shustar—two will probably suffice
Jioim .-journey can the effected m id? days : thus, in the first ins
tance, a saving of 9 days results; and in the second of 13 days,
ill i oil , From Shustar a caravan can reach Isfahan by the Bakhtfan route in 15
|fi days, and from Muhammerah in 31 days—a saving of 7 days on the Bushire
M a , , 0 ' the land route from Shustar with the river route from
miit .mmerah, the number of days required to land goods in Isfahan is 18—
1 p' a saving of 10 days on the Bushire route.
■ Caravans from Bushire require 13 days to reach Shi'raz and 15 days more
' * , to reach Isfahan— t.e., a total of 28 days.
p roin Bandar-Dilam caravans could reach Isfahan, 345 miles in 15 davs
S over the Shh-e rontl
towtJi yet it is not used (see page 26).
J# It must be remembered that the two roads leading directly throuo-h the
spg mass of the mountain range are closed in winter by snow drifts, and In thp
:ii »! spring by torrents.
<- , road Shustar to Isfahan through the Bakhtfan hills may be assumed
i'f iv, 6 cl ^ ed du 1 r "f the months of January and February, and that from Bandar-
ftkt' ''a™ through the Kuhgehlu hills during the months of December to April,
pint I ' 1 tlle worst of the streams be bridged or arrangements made to cross
them by rafts, the danger of being stopped by torrents would be obviated.
bW , these hill roads are no caravanserais. It would be necessary to
^ build and stock them with provisions, including fodder, in the manner that
Caravanserais and * wants of troops in India are supplied at camping
supplies grounds by bardashtkhanas, in order to meet the
iin' 1 ' j • j ' . ex, f?encies of the country caused by the custom of the
s ¥ to ? ert , a ^ tll:lles - The tlemaud would soon cause small colonies
tjJ s P r ing '»p round about the caravanserais if their sites be well selected
British commercial enterprise in the interior of Persia would seem not
# enterprise commercial £ llave ^ f e at. The chief trade of Isfahan is in the