'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOL. III. PART II: L to Z' [‎211r] (426/988)

RAM—RAM
830
Agriculture. —Rice, sesame, cotton, wheat, barley, beans, linseed, and
tobacco are produced, and the fruits grown include dates, oranges, sweet
and bitter limes, pomegranates, plums, grapes, apples, figs, quinces, citrons,
apricots, pears, and almonds; the fruits, except grapes, are mostly of recent
introduction. The district, under its present judicious managers, the Bakh-
tiari Khans, promises to improve in every respect and is attracting settlers
from every direction, especially from the Jarrahi region and farther east.
There are 20 flour mills driven by water power in the district.
The ordinary unit of land measurement in the district is the khish, or
area which requires 5 Ramuz mans of wheat or 3 of barley to sow it. As
the thickness of the sowing varies with the nature of the soil the khish can
not be expressed in terms of acreage.
Trade. —Ramuz town is the only commercial centre. Exports are wheat,
barley, sesame, rice, beans, linseed, ghd, wool, and hides, which are the pro
duce of the district, and wool, zidu, or gum-arabic, a kind of log-wood called
runieh, and various nuts, which are brought from the hills. Exportation
takes place direct to Nasiri and Muhammareh, but nearly all imports— viz.,
piece-goods, metals, sugar, tea, coffee, spices, crockery, and candles—are
received through Nasiri ; the more highly taxed of these commodities,
however, as also prohibited articles such as firearms and ammunition, are
brought by muleteers from ports such as Fallahieh, Ma'shur, Hindian, and
pilam, into which they are smuggled from abroad. The man of Ramuz
is equal to 106 lbs. English.
Administration. —The district is subject to the rule of the Bakhtiari
Khans, who also enjoy its revenues subject to a yearly payment of 15,000
tumdns into the Persian treasury at Shushtar. The agricultural taxes are
generally collected in kind at the rate of one-fourth of the gross produce in
the case of wheat, barley, linseed, cotton, beans, and tobacco, and at the
rate of one-third in the case of rice and sesame. Unirrigated crops gene
rally pay revenue in cash at the rate of 33 krdns \)QY faddcin*. In 1904
the revenue collections in kind consisted of 2,000 Ramuz mans of wheat,
12,000 of barley, 100 of beans, 1,500 of linseed, 70 of tobacco, 12,000 of
rice, and 1,000 of sesame, and their total value was estimated at 55,000
tumdns. In the same year the area cultivated by rainfall was 2,000 fadddns
and yielded 6,500 tumdns in cash.
The re venue-paying cultivation of the district at the present time is esti
mated as below by a reliable authority.
Unirrigated Land.
Area in Khish.
Proprietors.
600
Samsam-us-Saltaneh and the Muntaz'am-ud-Dauleh.
600
Shahab-us-Saltaneh and others.
* One good authority, however, states that the annual payment to the Persian Govern-