'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOL. III. PART I: A to K' [‎300r] (604/1278)

DIZ-DIZ
293
The neighbourhood of Dizful being recognized as one of the chief centres
of mule produce in Persia, its importance in this regard is very great {vide
this Gazetteer, “ ’Arabistan—Northern : Produce, Trade and Resources).
Coinage and Weights are the same as in Northern ’Arabistan, except
that the terms Hazdr or Real are used by preference to denote the Krdn ;
and that the Dizful man is equal to 16.969 lbs. avoirdupois.
Revenue .-—The revenue demand for the whole Dizful district, including
that portion gathered in the city, is 26,000 tumdns a year ; of which 4,000
tumdns are assessed on Shaikh Haidar’s section of the A1 Kathir. There
is also an impost of 1,200 kharwdrs (each of 650 lbs.) of grain in kind, half
in wheat and half in barley, to which Shaikh Haidar’s people do not
contribute.
N.B .—The tumdn (krans 10) varies in value from Rs. 2-8 to Rs. 3.
Villages .—Almost all the villages in the Dizful district are consructed
to resist sudden attack. They consist of a high enclosing wall, with usually
only one entrance. Occasionally a two-storeyed building rises above
the" level of the outer wall and is loop-holed. Most of the villages derive
their water-supply from qandts or subterranean ducts similar to the kdrizes
on the Afghan border.— {Foreign Department Gazetteer, 1905—Arbuthnot,
1905.)
DIZFtJL (City)—Lat. 32° 21' ; Long. 48° 21' ; Elev. 660'.
General description.— city of Dizful in Northern ’Arabistan is situated
on the left bank of the Ab i-Diz about 20 miles below where that river emer
ges into the plain after turning the corner round Kaleh Shahid. The site
is elevated and somewhat uneven, falling away on the river face in conglo
merate cliffs about 100 feet high, the foot of which is washed by the river
when in flood. On the left bank these cliffs do not extend beyond the town
in either direction, but they are found again on the right bank a short dis
tance up stream. Arriving from the east, the town has an extended appear
ance, being drawn out along the river bank to a : length of about \\ miles
with a depth, inland, of about f of a mile. The houses are closely packed,
mostly of two storeys, with flat roofs and many of them provided with
sard-dbs. Many are of brick and well built. The streets are narrow and
crooked, with gutters neither paved nor cobbled running down the centre
of them. These are used as common sewers and become, in wet weather,
rivers of black and putrid filth. Raised side walls, about 18 inches wide,
for foot passengers run along the edges, but are as often as not made use
of as latrines. In many places on the west side of the town the houses are
built on the face of the precipitous cliff, the foundations of the lowest being
on a level with the water’s edge, or are built in tiers up from the river
bed, which gives the town a very picturesque aspect from the right bamc
of the river. Several steep, narrow pathways lead from the streets down
to the river. In the outskirts of the town the houses are mostly in ruins.
Dizful contains 38 mosques and 24 shrines, some of which are Imamzddehs
(tombs of saints) and some Kadamgdhs (sanctuaries). The shrines are said
to be still used to some extent as places of Bast : the most important are
the Imamzadeh of Baba Yusuf, in tbe south-east corner of the town, and
that of Sultan Husain, on the left bank of the river above the town, in a