'MILITARY REPORT ON PERSIA. VOL. IV, PART II.' [‎62r] (128/212)

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obliging the commander of the force to make his own arrange*
ments to bring in fodder and food-stulfs, possibly by force, from
outside.
For this purpose the best districts would generally be the
following:—
(1) Kavar, very fertile.
(2) Khafr, south of Kavar, very fertile.
(3) Sarvistan : fertile 30 miles south-east of Shiraz.
(4) Kurbal, Marvdasht, Baiza and Ardakan ; all very fertile.
Firewood is plentiful near Kavar, and at Khan-i-Zin an and
Dasht-i-Arjan.
It seems that the average crop of wheat and barley per house
in a village is about 1.200 mans ShirazI, or 9,000 lb. ; if half be
available for sale to the outside public, the produce destined
for the market would be about 2 tons per house, or 40,000 tons
for Shiraz and 50 miles round. Of this quantity half should bo
available for the use of an occupying force in a normal year,
though of course prices would go up rapidly if so large a quantity
were needed. In a bad year, 10,000 tons should be available.
Assuming the requirements of a cavalry brigade with transport
to be about 20 tons a day of wheat and barley, a force of this
size is about the maximum, which, it can be safely assumed,
could live on the country as far as grain is concerned ; a rather
larger number of. infantry could be supplied, but it might be
necessary occasionally to feed them on barley flour.
There should be no difficulty in providing 10,000 men with
flour, as long as native agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. is not relied on to bring in the
wheat from the districts. Flour is never stored in large quanti-
ties; the wheat is sent to the mill to be ground in small quan
tities as required. Mills are numerous round Shiraz, and there
should be no difficulty in hiring one or more for the use of a force.
It is very uneconomical to purchase flour; it is better to buy
wheat and have it ground under supervision ; this is the only
way of obtaining good flour with certainty ; bran and barley are
largely used as adulterants.
(2) Ya-.d.
Articles in daily usp are fairly cheep, the only dear thing
in comparison beinn wheat which has to be imported. The
entire crops of a whole season are only sufficient to supply the