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Scottish Geographical Magazine Anniversary Address: the Upper This article was downloaded by: [Aston University] On: 05 September 2014, At: 12:28 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Scottish Geographical Magazine Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rsgj19 Anniversary address: The upper Karun region and the Bakhtiari lurs. Mrs. Bishop F.R.S.G.S. Published online: 27 Feb 2008. To cite this article: Mrs. Bishop F.R.S.G.S. (1892) Anniversary address: The upper Karun region and the Bakhtiari lurs. , Scottish Geographical Magazine, 8:1, 1-14, DOI: 10.1080/00369229208732507 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00369229208732507 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions Downloaded by [Aston University] at 12:28 05 September 2014 THE SCOTTISH GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE. ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS. THE UPPER KARUN REGION AND THE BAKHTIARI LURS.1 (Read at Meetings of the Society, Edinburgh and Glasgow, Nov. 1891.) BY MRS. BISHOP, F.R.S.G.S. (With a Map and Illustration.) I WILL not spend any of the time allotted to me in apologising for my very slender claim to the honour of having been asked by the Council of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society to address you to-night, or in an explanation of how I came to visit a part of unexplored Luristan, or of the circumstances of my journey, but will merely remark that the traveller may consider himself fortunate who finds any portion of Western Asia in which the track has not been previously beaten by geographical research or commercial enterprise. The subject, however, requires, if not an apology, at least an explana- tion on the lines which Sir Robert Smith 2 has just indicated. Without Downloaded by [Aston University] at 12:28 05 September 2014 one it would scarcely seem fitting that a mountainous region devoid of permanent inhabitants, a river whose abundant upper waters can neither be utilised for irrigation nor navigation, and nomadic and semi-savage tribes, without the instinct of progress, should occupy the attention of this Society at the opening meeting of the session. The interest attaching to the Bakhtiari country and its people is, in the first place, one of pure commercial selfishness, or, as it may be 1 The Editors are indebted to Mr. John Murray, of Albemarle Street, London, for the use of the accompanying sketch-map of the Bakhtiari country and engraving of the reputed source of the Karun River, taken from Mrs. Bishop's recently published work, Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan. 2 Sir Robert M. Smith presided over the Anniversary Meeting.—ED. VOL. VIII. A 2 THE UPPEE KARUN REGION stated, of lofty commercial ambition, and, in the second, is connected with certain political contingencies. The concession made by the Shah of Persia in 1888 of the free navigation of the Karun as far as Ahwaz, and the subsequent permission to run steamers between Ahwaz and Shuster have hitherto been nearly barren of practical results, and, in the meantime, Russia, our great com- mercial rival in Persia, has been making use of her advantages of proximity to extend her commerce in every direction, to such an extent that on my Persian journey of about 2000 miles, there was seldom a hamlet or camp, however remote from the great caravan routes, in which her wares were not to be seen. It is easy to circumvent the rapids at Ahwaz, but not so easy to surmount the huge barrier of the Bakhtiari Mountains, an obstacle which cannot be turned, and to ensure the safety of caravans from the attacks of the predatory hordes of the Feili Lurs. Several Indian officers, General Schindler of the Persian service, Mr. Baring, Mr. Blosse Lynch, and Mr. Mackenzie, have traversed and described some of the great passes by which the Iranian plateau can be reached from Shuster; but in spite of hopeful reports and the proffered co-operation of a predecessor of the present Ilkhani of the Bakhtiaris, it was obvious to the practical com- mercial mind that passes varying in altitude from 7000 to 11,500 feet, arid blocked by snow for three or four months of the year, could never form a highway for British goods. • These elevated routes have lately lost their importance in consequence of a concession granted to an English company to construct a cart-road from Ahwaz to Burugird through the Gap of Khuramabad, the highest altitude on which will not be much above 5000 feet. This road is to be completed in two years, and, if the Persian Government shows itself capable of keeping the predatory tribes in order, a new era for British commerce in Persia may be confidently expected, and British goods, no longer handicapped in the race with Russia by the horrible rock ladders of Shiraz and the exactions and obstructions of Turkish officialism on the Baghdad and Trebizond routes, will reach the great distributing-centres of the interior by easy land and water carriage, through Persian territory solely. May this peaceful rivalry with Russia be the only one in which Britain will ever be engaged ! The second point of interest is that more than one careful writer has Downloaded by [Aston University] at 12:28 05 September 2014 expressed the view that, in the event of certain contingencies, ten or twelve thousand Bakhtiari horsemen might prove valuable auxiliaries to a British force, and such contingencies are to the Indian official mind quite within the region of "practical politics." The Bakhtiari chiefs profess great friendliness for England, but, without trespassing on the domain of Us hautes politiques, I may say, from what I have seen of them, my own opinion is that, if a collision were to occur in South-West Persia between two powers which shall be nameless, the Bakhtiari light horsemen would be sold to the highest bidder. Three British officers, General Schindler, and two pioneers of com- mercial enterprise, were my predecessors over some of the earlier portions of the route; Mr. Stack, of the Indian Civil Service, previously reached AND THE BAKHTIARI LURS. 3 the reputed source of the Karun by a shorter cut from Ispahan, and Sir H. Layard and Sir H. Rawlinson, although they touched the route now. to be described only at Khuramabad, turned the light of modern research upon the Bakhtiaris in their winter homes in Khuzistan. The greater part of the route taken by the small party which I joined was previously, so far as is known, untraversed by Europeans. We left Julfa at the end of April of last year, my section of the caravan consisting of my own saddle-horse, four mules, carrying besides my Persian cook, Indian interpreter, and ordinary baggage, three tents and provisions for forty days. I carried letters from the Amin-es-Suttan, the Persian Prime Minister, to the Ilkhani of the Bakhtiaris and others, which were to secure a safe-conduct and escorts through the country, but the prophecies of the reception to be met with were of the most doleful description. The route taken lay through the fertile valley of the Zainderud, with its 300 villages, each village an oasis, and each oasis a paradise as seen in the first flush of spring, and over the Kahva Eukh Pass into the Chahar- Mahals, a district sprinkled with Armenian and Persian villages, under Bakhtiari rule, but geographically Persian. There, while camped close to the village of Kahva Eukh, on a bright moonlight night, I had a specimen of the dexterity of Persian thieves, followed by an illustration of the celerity of Bakhtiari justice, for I was robbed of the money for a four months' journey, being left literally penniless, but in one week the money was restored by the Ilkhani, the feudal head of the Bakhtiaris, having been levied, according to their custom, on the village where the robbery occurred. The thief, when caught, was liable to have either his right or left hand cut off, the choice as to the dismemberment being referred to me. Crossing the Kuh-i-Sukta range by the Zirreh Pass, at an altitude of 8300 feet, in deep snow, the Bakhtiari country proper was entered: i.e. that region of mountainous Luristan in which the powerful nomadic Bakhtiari Lurs have their summer pasturages—a region of lofty ranges, of deep valleys and gorges through which abundant waters take their impetuous course, of dark forests and grassy uplands, of blood-feuds and tribal wars, and of pastoral clans moving with great flocks and herds.
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