'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOL. III. PART II: L to Z' [‎339r] (682/988)

SHU-SHU
958
in the middle, and its place has been taken by a ferry: the second is by the
Pul-i-Lashkar into the Mianab : the third over the dam by the Pul-i-Bulaitt
to the east and connecting with a village of the same name, which is virtually
a suburb of the city.
The houses of Shushtar, though of some height and architectural pre
tensions, are mostly old and in bad repair, while some parts of the town
are in ruins and deserted. The majority of the houses are provided with
subterranean chambers, lighted by vertical shafts, called shavvdddns or
sardabs, which run down to a depth of some < 0 feet and are designed to
mitigate the heat of summer (reaching to 120° Fahr. on occasions) and
with flat, parapetted roofs about 30 feet from the ground. The sanitary
condition of the town, chiefly due to the public streets being made the re
ceptacle of domestic sewage, is indescribably foul: but as the ground has
a natural fall matters are improved by rain, instead of becoming aggra
vated as at Dizful. The daily bazar is carried on a narrow, open space,
on which sheds or lean-Ws against ruined walls have been erected. The
permanent shops are mostly located in the street leading through the centre
of the town on to the Pul-i-Bulaitl. The chief architectural features of
the town are a large Jama* mosque standing on an eminence near its southern
end, a lofty, leaning minaret, about 20 other mosques, some with blue
tiled domes, and some 15 imdmzddehs and kadam,galis. A camping-ground
of some 6 acres is available, when not under cultivation, on the south side
of the arsenal. For any larger ground it would be necessary to go across
the river Shatait on to its right bank.
Inhabitants. —The present population of Shushtar is about 12,000 souls,
but the place seems to be declining. The great bulk of the inhabitants
are of an indigenous type, commonly supposed to be Assyrian, but of mixed
breed: and they are generally called Shushtaris. They speak a Persian
patois resembling, but distinguishable from, that of the Dizfulis. They
are Shl^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 Bakh-
tiaris. The opinions expressed by travellers on the ShushtariV temperament,
disposition and morals are various and very conflicting. LayaixFs was that
they were bigots in religion, while he describes their women as noted more
for their beauty than their morals. Other travellers 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 inter
course 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 state
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