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‘Military report on south-west Persia, including the provinces of Khúzistán (Arabistan), Luristán and part of Fars.’ [‎181r] (366/470)

The record is made up of 1 volume (231 folios). It was created in 1885. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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could not be taken without artillery if held by resolute men.^ It would hold
a garrison of 3,000, and has a well inside the ramparts. Ihe door‘is well
protected hy flanking fire and from direct attack—a remarkable thing iu
Persia. Mfrza Aga Khan is repairing his fort, which is built in two tiers,
that to the north being the lower. He is a sullen, cruel-looking young fellow,
and evidently a great savage. • lie has a villanous cut-throat of an execu
tioner, who has cut off the head of a man and put out the eyes of another at
the bidding of his master within the last year. However, the gloomy chief is
polite, and wishes us to stay with him; his secretary, a terrible scamp, a
Shirazi, was at one time in the Shah's artillery, and had seen an English gun
boat. All the people of this place go up into the hills for the hot weather.
7 [a) . In the hills bordering the well-watered and triangular-shaped plain of
Mal-i-Aimr, both to the west and east are caves with sculptures [see above) ; the
caves are such as are ordinarily met with in tertiary limestones. r lhat to the
west is known as the Shakaf-i-Salmad. In the palmy days of Mal-i-Mir,
when the Atabegs held sway (11th century) and noble bridges spanned
the rivers and the road to Shustar was in good order (see page 77), caravans
made the journey there in four days. The ruins of the old city of Idedj or
Izedj are elevated 3,102 feet; the lake under the Kuh-i-Tanaush, 3,3G2 feet, and
the spring, 3,182 feet. The road leaves the Mal-f-Mir plain by a narrow pass
to its south-west leading to the Hallagan plains (see page 76). Heaving the
small village of Hallagan to the right, the road winds through the skirts of the
Kuh-i-Kamar-f-Daraz to the village of Barangird inhabited by the Ushkui
tribe; the i’oad thence runs south across the plain to Kal a-i-lul; throughout
the road is generally good; the total distance is 18 miles.
Near the Kuh-i-Kamar-i-Daraz the tertiary rocks give place to the second
ary. The hills are thickly clothed with oaks. KaTa-i-Tul is the residence
of the Khan of the Jamki tribe (see page 98). The plain in which it stands,
like all the basins within these hills, is well watered and fertile; it is elevated
3,5d2 feet; the castle occupies the summit of a height 100 feet high.
The following tribes and families inhabit the
Tril)e? ' district, i.e., the Jamki, Zangana, Ushkui, Makafa,
Mambim, Bagdali, and Gunarsi.
The Jamki tribe counts now about 5,000 dwellers in the following eleven
villages, viz., KaTa-i-Tul, Join, Sarla, Kal'a-i-Dalan, Abu-ul-Abbas, Hallagan,
Barangird, Mai-Dawud, Bagh-i-Malik, Bona-i-Bagh-i-Malek, Derwishan. The
tribute it pays to the province of Arabistan is 5,000 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. (see page 286).
The tribe reared many horses in former days; in 1876 the cattle-disease
killed 70 per cent, of them; cows, mules, and donkeys died in a like proportion ;
the disease spread in a south-east direction to Ears and in a north-west direc
tion to Luristan, being contined to a breadth of 10 to 12 miles along a length
of 100 miles.
The Jamki manufacture felts, carpets, and cottons; they are grossly igno
rant and fanatical without understanding their religion.
Stage 8, November 17th. —We leave the fort KaTa-i-Tul and go south-west
. . . over the barren plain. Crossing a low spur, we descend into
a a-i- u o aiasia an0 ^ iei , p ()r tion of the plain still with no signs of culti
vation. On the far side we come to a poor small village,
where there is rice cultivation on the banks of a stream,
and where the wild myrtle clumps look fresh and hand
some. We leave the ruins of Bagh-i-Malik or Man-
Zanik on our left, and, following the course of the Ab-i-
Zard and crossing it, we go through a pass in some low gatch (gypsum) hills,
or Kud-Zard, 13 miles,
level road, except one
difficult bit over gatch
hills; this could be made
good. Direction south.
Supplies scarce, except
rice.

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Content

Report marked strictly confidential, prepared in the Intelligence Branch of the Quarter Master General’s Department in India, by the Assistant Quarter Master General, Major and Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Mark Sever Bell, Royal Engineers. The volume was published by the Government Central Branch Press, Simla, 1885.

The contents of the volume are as follows:

  • part I, a narrative description of a journey from India to Muhammerah [Khorramshahr], through to the Luristán [Lorestān] hills, to Kúm [Qom]; from Kúm to Gulpaigán [Golpāyegān ], Chaman-i-Sultán [Chaman Solţān], Ali-Gúdar [Alīgūdarz], Imámzádá-Ishmail [Emāmzādeh Esmā‘īl], and the Zaindarúd River [Zāyandeh Rūd] to Isfahán; from Isfahán through the Kúhgehlú [Kohgīlūyeh] hills to Behbahán and Bandar-Dilám [Bandar-e Deylam]; from Bandar-Dilám to Bushire
  • part II, a detailed account of southwest Persia, compiled from Sever’s own observations and other available sources
  • part III, commercial considerations. A further section in this chapter on strategic observations, which is mentioned on the contents page and marked as secret, is not present in the volume
  • part IV, detailed road reports
  • appendix A, road reports, Isfahan to Shústar [Shūshtar], Shústar to Shíráz [Shīrāz], compiled in 1881 by Captain Henry Lake Wells, Assistant Director of Persian Telegraphs, with additional annotations by Bell
  • appendix B, a list of plant specimens collected in Luristán during April and May 1884
  • appendix C, extracts of a paper on the geology of the Turko-Persian frontier, written by William Kennett Loftus, June 1854
  • appendix D, meteorological observations at Bushire, from 20 March to 20 June 1885

The volume includes eight maps, two photographic plates, and illustrations throughout (topographical, architectural, anthropological). The two photographic plates and some of the maps are of an earlier date than the volume’s publication date of 1885.

Extent and format
1 volume (231 folios)
Arrangement

A contents page (f 7) and index (ff 222-226) refer to the volume’s original printed pagination.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 233; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.

Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.

Written in
English in Latin script
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‘Military report on south-west Persia, including the provinces of Khúzistán (Arabistan), Luristán and part of Fars.’ [‎181r] (366/470), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/15/9, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100048990083.0x0000a7> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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