'MILITARY REPORT ON PERSIA. VOL. IV, PART II.' [‎44r] (92/212)

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Q r-o-Karz'n plain. They will not be found in the Kara Aghaeh
valiey from Kavar to Tadun.
It would appear that the Qashqa: // does not number more
than 30,000 families. They themselves reckon an average
of 5 souls per family, giving a total of 175,000 persons for the
whole tribe. The above figures include the Ilyats alone. To
this must be added the numbers of villages which come under
the jurisdiction of the Ilkhoni. These probably number some
20—25.000 families Tim Ilkhani The paramount chief of certain tribes in south west Iran. therefore exercises control
over 30,000 families of Ilyats and 20—25,000 villagers in the
Sarhad and Garmslr, making a total of 50—55,000 families.
A very large portion of Pars is in the hands of, or connected
with, the Qashqais, and the settled population of those districts
and the men left in charge of land under cultivation by the tribe
form a large addition to the numbers of the actual tribesmen.
In many cases the settled villagers detest the tribesmen.
The Qashqais are nomadic, not only by traditional custom,
but also because their tribal wealth and food supply depends so
largely on their flocks and herds that the necessity of leaving the
hot regions before the grazing in the valleys has been dried up by
the hot spring sun of Southern Pars, and of seeking fresh pastures
on the high plateaus of Northern Pars, is imperative, while the
climate of the Sarhad is too bitter during the winter months,
and far more firewood can be obtained in the hills of the Garmsir.
Their sheep and goats not only provide milk, meat and clarified
fat, which are staple items of their food, but the wool and hair is
used by the tribes for weaving their own tents and covering,
and carpets for sale in the towns, from which source each tent
derives a portion of its yearly income. The poorest tribesmen
are said to own 300 animals. Sheep too find a large sale among
the settled inhabitants of the south during the winter season.
Those sections of the tribes, which possess a large number '
of horses and animals, sow each winter in the valleys of the
Gar’mslr which they are in the habit of visiting each autumn,
and the harvested grain is ready for their consumption on
their return in the autumn. Thus the wide valley of Farashband
is almost entirely cultivated by the Shishbuluki and some 200—
300 tons of grain are probably raised there every spring. Of late
years also the chiefs of the Qashqai, and, in imitation of them,
some of the Khans of the tirehs har e acquired, seized or bought
large properties in the Qashqai districts or biditk of the south.