'Reconnaissances in Mesopotamia, Kurdistan, North-West Persia, and Luristan from April to October 1888. By Lt F R Maunsell, Intelligence Branch. In Two Volumes. Volume I: narrative report, description of larger towns and routes leading from them. Simla: Intelligence Branch, Quarter Master General's Dept, 1890' [‎148v] (301/312)

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is known as the Kuh i-Paru, a continuation of the Koh-i-Baluch to the last
and extends east to Bisitun. The hiudiest peak, now streaked with snow, of
the Koh-i-Paru bears 51° from Karmanshah.
Three kinds of bread are found in the bazar in Karmanshah and through
out West Persia : “ Sunguk ” baked in strips 5 feet long, 1 foot broad, and
about ^ inch thick. Men may be seen walking with a row slung over their
shoulders on their way home to dinner.
Another kind is called “ lubbash ” or “labash,'” which consists of very
thin round cakes about 1 foot in diameter and baked crisp.
Another is “taftan,” made in cakes about the same size as lubbash, but
about 1 inch thick.
On the 18th August I drove with Agha Hassan to see a flower garden and
orchard he had laid out at Amarmel, a small village about 1| miles to the
west of the Sihna road, 3 miles distant from Karmanshah.
Kurdish village .—A description of this village would give a very fair idea
of the status of the people in these villages. It contained 200 houses of Kurds,
who were all Shiah Muhammadans.
The water-supply was very good from a large “ karez ” which had been
dug by A gha Hassan.
The village owned 300 cattle, 350 sheep and goats, and 300 donkeys,
which graze on the hillsides behind the village free, as the ground is the
property of the State. For cultivation the village possesses as much ground
as 60 pairs of bullocks can plough. As each can plough about 12 acres, this
amounts to 720 acres, in this they sow 5 karwars (500 batmans) of wheat
(•j 0 cwt.), and a small amount as well under opium, barley, and in some years'*
cotton. Wheat, they say, yields fivefold. ,
I he value of a batman varies very much throughout the country. Here it
is 6-6 lbs., but it is different in Tihran, Ispahan, and Bushahr. In Tabriz it is
more than 13 lbs. A karwar (6 cwt.) of wheat these people can sell for 12
kra ns (4s.), and a karwar of barley for 15 krans (5s.)
Last year the villagers gathered 45 batmans (297 lbs.) of opium, which they
sold for eight tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. per batman. The kran is valued at 4</. and the toman 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value.
at 6s. 5c7.
i Besides crops, the village had an orchard, where they gathered apricots, pears,
plums, apples, peaches; and of vegetables, they grew potatoes, a small kind of
pea, onions, beans, garlic, melons, and pumpkins, with a few walnut, poplar,
and ash trees. r
1 he houses are built of mud surrounded by a small enclosure common to
two houses, and which serves to keep in the cattle at night. There is a single
opening forming door, window, and chimney combined, and in the centre
of the floor a hole which serves as the fireplace and oven. A bed of coarse
felt, a primitive sort of cradle, some earthen jars, and a spinning' wheel" com-
plete the furniture. Opposite the door another opening leads into the stable,
where in winter the people live together with the cattle.
In one room 6 yards long and 4 broad and 7 feet high were a man and his
wife, their son-in-law and his wife, two children, and a pair of oxen, two don
keys, and four sheep. The principal food is bread made of wheat, indian-corn,
or o a soi t of a corn pounded up and baked in cakes on a curved piece of sheet
iron placed over the fire.
. Cucumbers, onions, and garlic are eaten with bread, and a pilau of rice occa
sionally on feast days. A sheep is killed some times in the village, each family
uj ing a small portion. ^ Fowls and their eggs are as a rule sold, but not eaten,
oamtary arrangements in these villages there are absolutely none.