‘Gazetteer of Kermanshah.’ [‎125r] (254/504)

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A sheep hears about | maund Tabriz! of unwashed wool; (c) middlemen
who at the clipping season visit all the villages or encampments in the wool
districts, and purchase from villagers and nomads. These middlemen
usually borrow money at 20 per cent, per annum from the wool merchants
in Kermansbah, and repay them in wool at the rate of the day; (d)
merchants, who advance money to the chiefs of the tribes, half the sum lent
bearing no interest, but being against wool to be delivered in spring, at a
price fixed beforehand, sometimes as low as 20 or 25 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. per kharvar,
and the other half bearing interest at 2d per cent., and repayable in wool at
the rate of the day or in cash.
There is usually 10 per cent, of black or coloured hair in the wool, this is
sorted and sent apait to Baghdad for sale.
The 100 maunds, after being washed, produce 60 mauads of wool costing
53d krans.
After adding freight from Kermansbah to Baghdad, the 60 maunds of
half-washed wool cost in Baghdad 617 krans, to which must be added from
three to five months’ loss of interest (12 per cent.) on capital employed.
In reply to an inquiry as to why more care was not taken in washing and
sorting the wool, the Kermanshah wool merchants declared that no^skin
cotton rags or pieces of string were contained in the wool exported by them!
They did not wash the wool so well for export as f( r spinning in the country;
as well washed wool scarcely fetched a better price in Baghdad than the
usual wool exported there.
As regards of the pressing bales, the process would only leave them a loss,
as (as far as they were concerned) the wool was only intended for the
Baghdad market, and bulky bales presented no more difficulty for trans
port by camel than pressed bales.
For spinning purposes the wool is washed with better care, the process
spun wool. costing 10 krans more than for washing for export.
The 100 maunds only produce 50 maunds, which
when spun are reduced to 47 or 48 maunds. The spinning, which costs 24
krans per maund, is done by the Kurdish women at odd moments, a family
taking 8 to 12 days to spin 1 maund. 40 to 50 kharvars of spun wool are
now exported lo Sultanabad for the carpet industy, and 30 to 40 kharvars
are used locally in the province of Kermanshah, for the manufacture of
carpets, rugs, gilims and woollen cloths.
The season for purchasing and exporting wool in Kermanshah is June,
July and August.
“ is only cultivated in the immediate neighbourhood of the
0 P m mj town, the output is small, viz.j, 300 boxes; in 1885
* ’ output was but 180 boxes. Other opium
comes from Burujird, Is'ehavend and Hamadan. The box weighs from 20
( l3 ° to 14:8 lbs *)> and costs about 2,800 to 3,200 krans
(TOo to £64) . — (jPreeee.)
The opium exported from Kermanshah, via Baghdad, is either got from
(1903-1904.) Nehavend, Malayer, Burujird, Luristan, or is pro-
. ’ dneed locally. Opium is cultivated in the followino*
districts and tub-districts of Kermanshah:—Herein, Tang-i-SIndian.
Bilavar, Lmavar, Duru-Faraman, Sar-Firuzabad, and in the vicinity of the
town of Kermanshah.