'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOL. III. PART I: A to K' [‎122v] (249/1278)

116
BAR—BAK
Fiom the latest available returns of the traffic on the road it seems to be
in a fair way of proving a commercial success. These returns, giving the
number of packages or half-loads which have reached and been despatched
from Ahwaz, read as follows :—
1908, 1909. 1910.
Reached Despatched. Reached. Despatched. Reached, despatched
2,254 3,763 10,771 12,555 5,451 18,766.
A postal service was organized in October 1910 between Ahwaz and
Isfahan ; the mails are conveyed by foot-messengers, and, under normal
conditions, take about 15 days, but delays and interruptions are frequent,
owing to weather conditions and raids of robbers.
The road from Shushtar strikes into this route on the plain of Tuleh,
distant about 80 miles from Nasiri.
Other roads .—Besides this the only route that can be dignified by the
name of “ road ”, with its regular caravan stages, there are the innumerable
mountain tracks connecting adjoining valleys. Of these, on the western
side, there is a good bridle-path, with fair gradients from Dizful, almost
in a direct line to Ardal. This track skirts the right bank of the Karun
river, passing through the Kaleh Dukhtar, north of the plain of Aqili a ad
Bhushtar : it continues thence by the Gardan-i-Nazirieh Cham into the
Bazuft valley, which is again left by crossing the Gardan-i-Chari (9,300
feet), the highest point reached on this road. The track then drops dowm
to the Karun river again and crosses one of its main sources by the stone
bridge mar Behishtabad. From here it climbs on to the plateau of Ardal,
the total distance covered being about 120 miles. This route should not be
selected without due consideration, as its westerly portion passes along
the border of Luristan ; and that province generally is insecure for travellers.
Political importance .—Bakhtlari land, on' account of its position, is of
considerable importance in regard to British interests. Situated at the
head of the only navigable waterway of the whole empire, and one that
empties itself into a sea, in which British interests predominate and are
peculiar—inhabited by a people of considerable warlike instincts,
in some contradistinction to their rulers in Tehran —and further forming,
in conjunction with Luristan, a natural barrier to encroachments from
the north—it is not unnatural to suppose that it may play an important
role in the future, in what has been aptly termed “ the Middle Eastern
question”. The inhabitants of Persia, generally, have lost, for many
ages past, if indeed such a thing ever existed,- any feeling of patriotism
or sympathy with their rulers ; and the Bakhtiari are far from being
an exception to this rule. Hitherto, treachery, followed by cruel
punishments, as well as internecine quarrels fostered by the Persian
Government, have been the means by which the authority of the latter
has been maintained. Such as it is, it exists merely with the idea of
obtaining a certain sum of money yearly in taxation ; no single farthing
of which is expended for any public purpose—local or otherwise. It is
not, therefore, surprising that the Bakhtiari Khans would be inclined to
welcome any change, even to the extent of a foreign Government on wdiich
they could rely to free them from the intolerable burden and distrust,