‘Military report on south-west Persia, including the provinces of Khúzistán (Arabistan), Luristán and part of Fars.’ [‎69r] (142/470)

14
105
General Remarks.
Schools do not exist amongst the Lurs. The sons of the chiefs are taught
Education. 1,0 rea( ^ auc ^ ' Vl 'ite and to repeat tales from the Gulistan
and other favourite works, by niunxhis and mulds ; but
the masses are totally uneducated. With each chief resides a munshi A term used in the Middle East, Persia and South Asia to refer to a secretary, assistant or amanuensis. Munshis were employed in the British administration in the Gulf. . livery
man who has occasion to sign his name is provided with a signet ring. A few
of the boys of the chiefs are sent to Isfahan to learn English and French.
There also they receive a Persian nobleman’s education, which consists in being
taught to read and write Persian and Arabic, arithmetic, metaphysics, and the
principles of their religion (Shiya’ Muhammadans). Persian poetry and
romance treat largely of the glory of warfare.
The enervating education of the andarun has apparently not yet thrown
its enshrouding folds over the boys of the iliyat nobility. They are as a rule
manly boys; they treat their fathers with great respect.
Medicine, &c. 0f P h y s ic and surgery they are grossly ignorant.
Dissection is contrary to their religion.
Lur women go unveiled; they are good looking when young, but soon
age and the fashion of dressing the hair in ringlets gives
Lur women. their old women a weird appearance. The usual dress
consists of pantaloons, generally of a red colour, and a
long flowing ungainly dress without shape and hanging loosely about the person,
from the neck downwards. Many of them go shoeless.
The rich wear silks of a gay colour, and dress more in the Persian style,
but without veils. They cover their bosoms with silver ornaments when they
can afford to do so. Many cut their eyebrows to shape. When young, they are
fair complexioned, with rosy cheeks, and hair either black or of a dark auburn
or black with a reddish tinge—a colour perhaps not seen out of Persia. The
hair of many of the men is of the same colour.
The poorest class of men wear cotton shirts reaching to the knee under
L U r 8 . a l° n g coat and skull cap of the same. They are
well made, full bearded, with long shaggy hair and regu
lar features; straight noses and foreheads. They are not at all as described by
Loftu*) page 9d. They are not given to overmuch washing.
A man marries as many wives as he can afford to keep. The chief wife and
Domestic customs. ^ ie favourite wives dress in silks of bright colours, which
their innate Oriental taste blends together harmoniously ;
the other wives are poorly clad. Hajji Ali Khan, Chief of the Sagwand tribe
of Lurs {see pa ye 85), has 25 wives. A chief’s influence with the tribes increases
with the number of his wives, and his sons and daughters intermarry with
those of the chiefs of other tribes, both distant and near. Except for their
indulgence in the pleasures of the Harem, they are frugal livers. They never
asked for wine or spirits, and were never seen to drink any.
The life of the women of the Lur tribes is a hard one; they perform all
household duties, tend the flocks, milk the sheep, weave yarn and carpets, help
to strike, pack, and pitch their tents, clarify the butter, &c., &c.; the latter, a
most wearying task, carried on in the very early morning or at midnight.
The milk is churned in skins, suspended from the pole of the tent or beam of
thereof; they are worked by the arms, in pairs, backwards and forwards, bv
a woman seated on the ground between them. This hard work, sleeping and
sitting on the damp ground, and insufficient clothing, account for their prema
ture aged appearance. The winter is their slack time. They cannot be said to be
over-modest. The Feili mother will sell her daughter to a man of an alien reli
gion ; and stud operations are carried on in front of the tents {see page 10).