'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOL. III.' [‎439v] (883/982)

868
SHU—SHU
patois resembling, but distinguishable from, that of the Dizfulis. They
are Shi’ah Muhammadans : their most prominent sections being the Saiyids,
the Khawanin, and the Mashaikh, numbering respectively, 1,000, 500
and 500 persons. The town itself contains no Arabs and but a few
Bakhtiari. The opinions expressed by travellers on the Shushtaris
temperament, disposition and morals are various and very conflicting.
Bayard’s was that they were bigots in religion, while he describes their
women as noted more for their beauty than their morals. Other travel
lers have described them as tolerant and on the whole moral. A latter day
opinion on them • is that, in comparison to the more northern Persians
of Isfahan and Tehran, they are more narrow-minded and less adapted
to European manners and intercourse generally. In this respect they
have exhibited on several occasions acts of fanaticism towards Europeans
from which the latter have been free in other localities.
The town is divided into four chief mahallehs, each under the direction
of a Rais. These mahallehs are constantly fighting with each other, and
with the no uncommon result of the city becoming as it were in a stage
of siege, the shops all being shut, and no intercourse possible between
the rival factions for weeks at a time.
Trade and Industries. —A number of local industries are carried on in
Shushtar. Among manufactured articles are coarse woollen carpets called
gilims or hardmis : woollen cloths for ’ahds (cloaks): light cotton stuffs
for clothing ; turbans and waist-cloths ; coarse canvas : givehs (cotton
shoes) : coats, hats and rugs of felt: iron, copper, brass utensils, and Ger
man silverware : silverwork : glazed earthernware (kashi) : pack and riding
saddles and mule gear. Other occupations are brick and lime making,
manufacture of opium, tanning of leather and dyeing of cloth. Such
of the inhabitants as are not engaged in these manufactures and other
occupations live for the most part by wholesale or retail trade, by agri-
ture or by religion ; the residence are builders, carpenters, muleteers and
raftsmen. Shushtar is the river port of Dizful, through which all its im
ports and exports pass : all Dizful merchants therefore have agents or cor
respondence at Shushtar. The principal merchants in either place are
Messrs. Lynch Brothers, whose representative here was formerly an Eng
lishman, but latterly, and in 1905, an Armenian. Trade methods are
similar to those at Dizful. The Shushtar munis equal to 15-487 lbs. avoir
dupois.
Water and other supplies.—The water-supply is naturally unlimited.
Supplies, except fuel which comes from ’Aqili and the jungles on the Diz,
are drawn chiefly from the Mianab. Food-stuffs and forage cannot be called
abundant, but in good years there are considerable stocks of both in the
town. There are ii'0 flour-mills in working order on the Gargar, but there
is only sufficient water to run 10 of them in the dry season. About 800
mules are said to be owned by Shushtaris, the greater number of which
are always absent, grazing or on caravan. In this respect Major G. H.
Arbuthnot in his report (1905) on the mule-producing district^ of Persia—II