'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME IV.' [‎39v] (83/652)

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Transport owned in Bandar Abbas is small, amounting to only 10 horses'-
Transport, supplies and land and 350 donkeys; there are no camels,
communications. Other live stock are 250 cattle and 150 sheep
and goats. The town is dependent for pack-carriage on the surrounding
district of Shamil of which the resources are estimated in the article under
that name. The same holds of ordinary supplies, and the water-supply
has already been described above.
The inland routes which have their starting point at Bandar Abbas is
dealt wfth in the article on the Shamil district.
Bandar Abbas is now connected with Hanjam Island by telegraph. The
shore end of the cable is landed about f of a mile east of the pier at the
centre of the town.
Bandar Abbas is one of the Gulf Ports and as such is subject to the'
Governor who has his head-quarters at
Administration. Bushire town. The local representative of
his authority is a resident Deputy-Governor who is his nominee; this indivi
dual appears to be entitled in theory to exercise official influence over the
Kalantar of the Shamil district whose seat is at Ziarat, but in practice
the Kalantar generally succeeds in maintaining a position of equality and
the Deputy-Governor is ruler of the town only. The Deputy-Governor
is an unsalaried official who pays a premium for his post and recoups
himself as best he can by the collection of dues and taxes ; the present
incumbent of the office is reported to have paid 5,000 tumdns for his
appointment for one year, and the highest annual sum ever contracted for
is said to have been 14,000 tumdns. From the Deputy-Governor’s sources
of income the revenue of the sea customs, collected by the staff of the
Imperial Persian Customs, are of course excepted. His chief items of revenue
are a shop-tax called Asnafiyeh and a passport-tax called Tazkireh. At
tempts are made from time to time to increase the revenue by the imposition,
of various irregular imposts under the names of Dallali, or brokerage, collected
from both seller and buyer at the rate of 2| per cent. ; of Sar-i-Rigi, a tax
levied on goods placed in position for loading on transport animals ; of Mai-
dani, a kind of octroi duty at from | Jcrdn to 2 krdns per package according
to size, and of Askaliyeh or pierage, nominally for the up-keep of a pier of
Askaleh, at to 5 krdns per package according to size. Rahdari or road
tolls, nominally for the maintenance of roads and provision of road
guards is not at present levied in the neighbourhood. The Deputy-
Governor in fact has carte blanche to make what he can out of the place
during his lease, subject only to the restraints imposed by the presence
of the Director of Customs and of the representatives of Foreign Powers.
The town produoes no land or agricultural revenue.
Incidentally the Deputy-Governor conducts the general administration of
the town and decides criminal and civil cases. He maintains no regular police
and his settlement of cases appears to be determined chiefly by corrupt or
partisan considerations. As a criminal authority he has power to inflict
fine, torture or imprisonment, but death sentences cannot be carried out
without the sanction of the Governor of the Gulf Ports.
The religious authorities, who in some districts of the Persian coast are
respected and administer at least the semblance of civil justice, appear at