"عبر بلاد فارس على سرج ركوب جانبي" [‎٢‎٧‎٩] (٣٦٠/٣٢٠)

THE KARUN RIVER AND AHWAZ
279
a little at a time was thrown on the ground from the
central heap, until the whole of the straw was reduced to
fine flakes of tibbin.
Mr. Parry told me that the Arabs were most honourable
in all commercial transactions. He frequently advanced
money to them, which they paid off to him at this season
in wheat or barley ; and he said that a case was hardly
known where a man refused to honour his bond or
promissory note. If, however, such an unlikely contingency
were to occur, the creditor would merely have to mention
the matter to the Sheikh of the debtor's tribe, and if the
defaulter himself could not pay his debt the tribe would
make up the deficit to save its honour.
Wool is the other great staple industry here, and Messrs.
Lynch employ many hands in their great warehouse to
sort and pick this commodity, dividing it into heaps
according to the shades.
We had only been some two or three days at Bunder
Nasseri when my brother and Mr. Parry went off in the
steamer, fifty-six miles up the river, to Shuster, where- was
the Governor from whom my brother was commissioned
to extract an indemnity for an outrage committed by his
soldiers on three Europeans at Bunder Nasseri, and also
to inquire into the attempted murder of Mr. Tanfield and
other matters.
I was left behind with Mrs. Parry and a lady visitor
from Busreh, as my brother feared the terrible climate
of Shuster for me, and thought, moreover, that his party
might probably be attacked by the fanatical Shusteris.
However, shortly after their departure, the one European
in the place, with the exception of our little party, had a
quarrel, apparently ending in a regular fight, with some