Report No.67 of 1863 detailing the tribes, trades and resources of the Gulf Littoral [‎7r] (13/58)

3
1°
o
S
trade. Slie iiuports timber from India; and may possess some twelve Budas of
from 200 to 300 Ions each; some 50 smaller craft of from 50 to 60 Tons- omJ
500 or 600 small coasting; Bno-o-arelis 15r L the i, f i i • '
tj j * . /, u - • & ^? ateus - 15111 tlie number ot boats belona-ina: to
a i or. in the Gulf, is no sufficient criterion of the trade of that Port "Bunder
Abbass possesses scarcely any Boats. Craft call there on route to the northward
or to India, drop and take m cargo, and pass on. The newly established line of
Steamers, follow the same practice.
69. I pass southward to the 3rd Class of territories; among these the
Bunder Abbass with its adjacent districts northward to a P™cipal Port is Bunder Abbass.
point near Lingah, and southwards to a tract, whose The trade of this Port is Vari-
political jurisdiction is not determined under Treaty en- ouslv estimated All irhnit if
r Isl " d »» t>i thriving. ' I am inclined
r ,, -i ^ J. T . to suppose it may be three-
rourths as laige as that oi Bnslnre; perhaps even more.
An 70 ' . T]ie means for collecting any detailed account of the trade of Bunder
Ab jass aie not at my disposal: this Port being temporarily farmed bv Muscat
and thus excluded the region of communication with this Pesidency. It is how-
ever, the principal Port of entry for piece goods into Persia. It imports also
coiree, tea, sugar, spices and miscellaneous goods. Among its exports are
wool and fruit; the latter drawn from a fertile district a little inland.
-P* ^J iav ? noticed that Bunder Abbass has been somewhat decried as a Port •
but I am of opinion that it is the point where trade coming to and fro avast
area of southern Central Asia, naturally meets the sea. At present its trade is
said to be m a partially abnormal condition, owing to its following a route which
if Bushire were less interfered with, would not fall to Abbass. For instance'
Bunder Aboass, in some decree, supplies the Shiraz market; and this although
the road thither is twice as long as from that Town to Bushire, besides being kss
safe. In its normal condition, perhaps, the proper sphere of Bunder Abbass'"trade
would be along the lezd and Kerman routes to points found along a line extendina:
from Furrah through Herat, Ghayn, Tong, Tubbus, Meshed Nishepoor, and so to
1 eheran. The Bunder Abbass trade should, in brief, be a central one; meetim- the
iVurrachee trade via Candahar, on its eastern flank; the Russian trade of the Oxus
and Caspian, on its north; and the Tabreez and Bushire trade on its western
siae. -Uo doubt, a large area in the region thus described, is, at present,
comparatively desert; while those portions of it known politically, such, for
instance, as the States of Herat, Khion, and Bokhara are poor consum
ers, btnl, tne total area to be supplied is so extensive, that even an infinitessimally
small trade per 10 square miles would endow Bunder Abbass with a rich com
merce. Moreover, some of the States referred to, were once comparatively
,u'a tii\ , and still contain the soil, the positions, and the men, for becoming so again,
i ofiticai circumstances, and the slow permeation of thought through those regions,
may, any day, give them an impulse, as welcome in the commercial, as it may
prove startling in the political world. I chanced, some little time ago, to read the
istory of (xenghis Khan, with an Heratee, who formerly administered the IIIvat
districts of that principality. I asked him how it was no Genghis arose now,
o leoeem his country? He replied, "We possess too many of them. In old
nnes men were beasts of burthen. A. Chief of character could do what he liked
an t'ley would follow. But people ti'avel now, and think and look to money
lesu s. Caiavans come from Hind and Puss and tell them what is what,
xcia ees would not follow a Genghis or leader now;* but if a Sahib were to go
ai . 1 ^ them on in advance of what they now are, as Genghis did in advance of
V> ia ie y weie 111 his time, and if he would pay them properly (for men will not
l\Tnr,e!.i I n i rC,1l ^ lbe i' < 2 om 5, n g OH some tw0 thousand families of the Jumsheedee Tribe, of the Bala
ninl l£i • 1 le J re ^ se< ^^ 0 fight for the Herat Sirdar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. ; had been attacked by him; had been worsted
SomP w Cal ,1V y " ^ Vllen 1 fel1111 witl1 t ^ em ' th had just reached the bank of the Herat river.
wt'm an . llr S m S on their cattle, some helping on their children. Many, particularly of the women,
. • ,, d 111 a f 0 f Responding manner on the riyer bank. The 137 Psalm was before you. " Bv the
to be' ZlroZ&c' ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ remembered * * * Oh daughter of Babylon who art
4