'CORRECTIONS TO GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME III' [‎76r] (153/180)

QAS—QAS
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accustomed to firearms. The tribe could furnish good infantry men inured
to hard work over rough country, and requiring but little transport for their
few simple wants. General Gordon describes the horsemen encountered by
him in 1892 as “ tough and rough irregulars mounted on small, wiry horses.’!
The Qashqal are probably superior to the Bakhtiarl as fighting mem
The mere fact that their losses in Shiraz during the autumn of 1911, amount
ed to over 400 killed and a proportionate number wounded, proves
♦ that they are not deficient in courage of a sort; but their failure to make
an impression on the defences of the part of the town which they were
attacking, indicates that they are deficient in other qualities, which are
essential to a fighting man. It was noticeable that almost all Qashqai losses
were incurred during night attacks ; and the fact that both sides, Qashqal
and Arabs, had recourse to mining and countermining is worthy of records
Armament .—The Qashqai are well armed, practically every able-bodied
man being in possession of a magazine or Martini rifle, and, in 1911, fairly
well supplied with ammunition. Saulat-ud-Dauleh was permitted by the
Persian Government to import some 200,000 rounds, early in 1911, for the
use of his tribesmen in protecting the roads ; all this and a good deal more
besides, were expended during the autumn of 1911 at Shiraz. During 1912
there was more fighting among the Qashqai, and about the same time the
blockade of the Pars coast was undertaken by the navy, thus curtailing the
supply. Though the tribe is rich, and during winter live close to the coast,
they must now (1912) find it difficult to maintain an adequate supply of
'•f ammunition.
In the year 1900 the Qashqal tribe did not possess more than 200 rifles,
but in 1912 they had 15,000 magazine rifles, and perhaps 8,000 of older
pattern.
In 1910 Saulat-ud-Dauleh was presented with a 7 centimetre gun by the
Persian Government; but its weight would prevent it being used for any
thing but an attack on Shiraz.
Administration.
The province of Pars is administratively divided into a number of Gov
ernorships (Hukumat), Sub-Governorships (Naib-ul-Hukumeh) and
districts (Bulfik), of which the last-named are very ill-defined. A large
number of these Buluk, and a few Governorships are in the possession of
the Qashqal tribe, and whatever settled population there may be in the
^ towns or villages of those districts is under the control of, and entirely at
the mercy of, the Qashqai II and its chiefs. During the past few years,
under Saulat-ud-Dauleh particularly, there has been a considerable exten
sion of power of the Ilkhani The paramount chief of certain tribes in south west Iran. and tribes in this direction. In the Garmsir,
or Southern Pars, the Qashqal possess the governmental district of Piruz-
abad : during 1909, TO and T1 the government of Kazarun was either
in the hands of an underling of the Ilkhani The paramount chief of certain tribes in south west Iran. , or, as in 1911 with the
Kaldntars of the Kashkull section, Mahammad ’Ali Khan, Kashkuli, and
others. In 1912 the Kashkulls were turned out of Kazarun.
The Qashqal returned one deputy to the Majlis in 1909.