'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOL. III.' [‎83v] (171/982)

156
BEH—BEH
Gabriel, 1905. There are no pretentious houses, and the town is mostly
in ruins and wears a dilapidated and poverty-stricken appearance. The
streets are filthy with heaps of offal lying about, and there is no bazar
worthy of the name.
The local officials claim the population to number 30,000, but this is
# clearly an over calculation. Probably
opu a ion. 6,000 to 8,000 is a truer estimate. In
the town there are two parties, the Behb eh Inis and the Qanawatis, in the
proportion of £ of the former to § of the latter. The Qanawat tribe origin
ally came from Kufa in the Turkish district. The Behbehanis are neither Per^
sians nor Arabs, but a kind of mixture of the two. The chief man among
the Behbehanis is (1903) Muhamm?d Mu’m-ul-Islam, who was formerly
«xaminer in Persian and Arabic at Bombay for 10 years. He has a cousin
called Saiyid Muntazir w T ho has a trade connection with Bombay, and is
said to be friendly to the English.
Behbehan is an important town, however, being a concentrating and
distributing centre for the caravan
Trade and resources. trade of the surrounding district.
Owing to the lack of a proper bazar supplies of grain are, as a rule, scanty
in the town. The Behbehan plain provides grazing for some 3,000 sheep
and cattle, and, except in years of drought, wheat is obtainable in the
neighbourhood in large quantities. This is the principal article of export,
Bhusa also is obtainable in practically unlimited quantities. The water*
(supply under present conditions is meagre and bad, being supplied by a
small drain which also forms the favourite washing-place of the population.
Drinking water is stored in db-ambdrs, and is brought from a distance
of 6 miles. There are three tanks here measuring 50' X 20' x 6' of
covered masonry. Under a more energetic regime the town might be well
supplied by qandts from the Marun river. Owing to the extensive caravan
traffic, of which Behbehan is the centre, transport is generally available ;
2,500 good mules could probably be collected without much difficulty.
Donkeys and cows 10,000, horses 500, sheep 8,000. There are 300 to 400
mules of all descriptions working on the Bandar Dllam road from here.
Curzon mentions that mma work, or enamelling in gold, silver or copper,
still survives here.
The weights at Behbehan, given by Ross, are—
For foreign goodsTabriz man =760 misqdls = 6| lbs. approx.
For native produce=l mcm=850 misqoh=&§ lbs. approx. Behbehan
is the seat of the Governor of the province, the Shahab-us-Sultaneh,
. , . . , ^ who has a beautiful garden here. He
Administration. • , i , ° A e <■ ,
is supported by a regiment of foot,
400 strong, and a few mountain guns. The district was leased by the late
Shah to the Bakhtiari.
The Persian telegraph line from Ahwazto Borazjun passes through Beh-
Communications. beMn - ^ following are the main
routes radiating from here *
(1) To Bandar Dilam, 3 stages, 43 miles.
(2) To Ahwaz, 6 stages, 120 mjles