'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOL. III. PART I: A to K' [‎168r] (340/1278)

BEH—BEH
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tioned, by Gabriel, 1905. There are no pretentious houses ; the town is
mostly in ruins and wears a dilapidated and poverty-stricken appearance.
The streets are filthy with heaps of offal lying about, and there is no bazar
worthy of the name. The Governor, in 1903, had a beatiful garden.
Population. —The actual town of Behbeban is estimated to contain
4 .000 houses and to have a total population of 20,000 souls, of whom 2,000
would be armed men. Wilson in 1912 estimated the population at only
6.000 to 8 , 000 .
In the town there are two parties, the Behbehanis and the Qanavatis,
in the proportion of | of the former to £ of the latter ; the town being divided
' into two mahalehs corresponding to these parties. The Qanavat tribe
originally came from Kufah in Turkey, and the head of the mahaleh in
5 1910 was Mlrza Ahmad, Shaikh-ul-Islam. The Behbehanis are neither
Persians nor Arabs, but a kind of mixture of the two. The chief man
among the Behbehanis in 1903 was Muhammad Mu’in-ul-Islam, who was
formerly examiner in Persian and Arabic at Bombay for 10 years. He
had a cousin called Saiyid Muntazir who had a trade connection with
Bombay, and was said to be friendly to the English. In 1910 the head of
the Behbehani mahaleh was Mirza ’Ali Riza.
In 1910 there was a bitter feud between these two mahalehs, causing
constant fighting and bloodshed.
BEHBEHAN Province—
Resources. — Trade. —Behbehan is an important town, being a concen
trating and distributing centre for the caravan trade of the surrounding
district. Owing to the lack of a proper bazar supplies of grain are, as a
rule, scanty in the town» The Behbehan plain provides grazing for some
3.000 sheep and cattle, and except in years of drought, wheat is obtainable
in the neighbourhood in large quantities, there are about 30,000 acres of
irrigated and unirrigated land near the town. Wheat is the principal article
of export. Bhif,sd also is obtainable in practically unlimited quantities.
Water. —The water supply under present conditions is meagre and bad,
being supplied by a small drain which also forms the favourite washing-place
of the population. Drinking water is stored in db-ambdrs, and is brought
from a distance of 6 miles. There are three tanks here measuring 50' X20'
X 6 ' of covered masonry. Under a more energetic regime the town might
be well supplied by qandts from the Marun river, where, also any force up to
a division could obtain water.
Transport. —Owing to the extensive caravan traffic, to which Behbehan is
the centre, transport is generally available ; 2,500 good mules could pro
bably be collected without much difficulty. Donkeys and cows 10,000,.
horses 500, sheep 8,000. There are 300 to 400 mules of all descriptions
working on the Bandar Dilam road from here, and mules are bred in the
province; ; •
Sufflies. property of the inhabitants of the town was in 1910
estimated to be 1,000 cows, 20,000 sheep and goats, 2,000 donkeys, 1,000
mares and 2,000 mules. (G/./aboVe fot transport available.)
It is estimated that irrigated ground yields about 100-120 maunds of
grain (wheat per khish (about 15 acres), and rice about 40 maunds per
acre.
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