‘Military report on south-west Persia, including the provinces of Khúzistán (Arabistan), Luristán and part of Fars.’ [‎56v] (117/470)

84
disinterested agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. , capable of suppressing all petty jealousies, alone can
combination be looked for to work out a common aim. A foreign power alone
amongst Asiatics can play the part of a trusted agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. .
The most complete account of the Mamasseniand Kuhgehlu Lurs and of
the Kashkai as well as of the other dwellers in Fars will
Iliyats of Fars, &c. be £ oun(1 in the w0r hs or Dr. Andrea’s. All these tribes
were reduced to order by Prince Firhad Mirza by a ruthless shedding of blood
(since 1S77). i r* •
Besides the policy of scattering all dangerous elements and ot in
triguing to keep up domestic feuds, already referred to, the only policy of the
Persian*rulers is to accumulate wealth during their precarious terms of
office ; notions of patriotism, of desire for the welfare of the subject, all beliefs
in high aims, must be set on one side. The rule resulting from such policy is
one of blood and gold.
The Iliyat tribes along the border of Turkey and Persia have ever been
noted for their predatory habits; the Turk being
Border Iliyats. regarded by the Persian as an intruder on the limits of
the ancient Persian Empire; the former, the orthodox believer in Omar and
the omnipotent Allah; the latter the disciple of the martyred ’Ali,—the one a
Sunni, the other a Shiya.
The Feili Lurs occupy the Persian border from Dizful to Karmanshah.
It is difficult to treat with the Border Iliyats diplomatically, they occupy
ing Turkish territory at one time and Persian at another.
The Lurs.
De Bode considers that the Lurs are the kernel of the original Zend
speaking race, settled in the mountains of Luristan from time immemorial, before
the country was overrun by the Tatar hordes from the one side and the Arabs
from the other; the Scythians or the Turani from the northern and central
parts of Asia, from whence the Zend tribes themselves originally came, and the
Semitic races from the south.
The race came from the ancient Bactria or the modern Bokhara, Balkh,
and Khunduz.
The Lurs, using the name as an ethnological one, are inhabitants of the
following districts, viz .,—
(I) Lur-i-Kuchak and (II) Lur-i-Buzurg.
(I)
Lur-i-KuchaJc occupied hj the Feili Lurs.
The tribes occupying the Lur-i-Kuchak are generally {see page 93)
known as the Feili, and are subdivided into the Pish-Kuh (north of the
Kabfr Kiih) and Pusht-i-Kuh (south of the Kabir Kuh).
The Pish-Kuh are divided into 4 principal tribes—the Dilfan of 15,000
families; the Silah-silah of 10,000 families; the Bala
Giriwa of 0000 families ; the ’Amalah of 2,000 families ;
i.e., 33,000 families ,—see detailed tables. The total assessment is 40,000
tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. .— {Layard, 1346) {see Revised Gazetteer of Fersia).
Each tribe has its chief who exercises unlimited authority over its mem
bers; under him are tushmals or chiefs of families who
are responsible for the collection of the revenue and for
Government.