'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎248] (313/905)

248
PREDATORY HABITS.
[CHAP. XI.
subjects of Fat-h All Shah were observed hanging on his
rear as he moved from his encampment towards Ispahan, with
the same desire to appropriate a part of his baggage to them
selves, if the opportunity had occurred, as they would have
manifested had he been an enemy.
Scarcely any other civilized country with which we are
acquainted contains so few inhabitants, or those of such a
mixed description, as Persia in her present state ; and even of
these, a large proportion live apart, wandering from place to
place with their flocks, in the very heart of the community of
which they form a constituent, and, in one respect, an influ
ential portion, since they supply a large part of the military
force of the kingdom.
These wanderers have the name I'lyats, by which the Per
sians designate the whole of those tribes who subsist by their
flocks, and also that portion which is employed in the pearl
fishery. h The I'lyats do not admit that they belong to the
old Persian stock, but believe themselves to be descended from
strangers, who had been attracted by the thirst of conquest,
like the Saracens from the west, or the followers of Jengiz
Khan, and other adventurers from the east.
The I'lyats settled in Persia at a recent period, and have
preserved their peculiar habits and customs. The funerals of
the Bakhtiyari, for instance, are attended with dancing and
other symptoms of rejoicing : and if the man should have
been killed in battle, the rejoicings (and this is the case also
among the Arabs) are on that account the greater. The
I'lyats are brought up in ignorance of almost everything,
except tending their flocks, weaving tent cloth, occasional
cultivation of the ground, and martial exercises. The head
of each tribe is its leader in war, or in the predatory excur
sions ; and he practically teaches his hardy followers to despise
the peaceable occupations of the cultivators, who, when not
sufficiently protected, are frequently plundered of their corn
and cattle.
The I'lyat chiefs and their families are the only permanent
aristocracy of Persia, in which kingdom they occupy a posi
tion nearly resembling that of the old feudal chieftain in