'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME I' [‎236v] (489/820)

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KUC-KUC
■ “w
caused his temporary banishment and disgrace. In the winter of 1873 he
refused to attend a summons of the Governor General to reply to some
r. charges brought against him. A force was taken by the Governor General
in person, as far as Sarkan, a village a short distance from Kuchan. The
Kurds held by their chief and prepared to resist the royal troops, and open
w ' war was only averted by concessions on both sides. The season was very
unfavourable and the attitude of the Za’afaranlus determined, while the
k Kuchan chief knew well that the ultimate result of resistance could only
be most disastrous to himself.
He was allowed to remain in his chiefship, but on payment of a heavy
bribe, under the name of a fine, to his superior ; and the troops returned to
Meshed. He had, however, to deal with an implacable and powerful enemy
and was afterwards forced to present himself, first at Meshed and then
at Tehran, and suffered imprisonment and confiscation of all his property,
while his eldest son ’Abdul Hasan Khan was driven into open rebellion.
Amir Husain Khan was eventually reinstated and enjoyed peace forth©
r latter 12 years of his life. He had a bad fall from his horse while accom
panying the Persian Boundary Commissioner to Firuzeh, and succumbed to
the injuries he had received.
, On his death the present Chief, Muhammad Nasir Khan, succeeded to
the Governorship and the title of Shuja’-ud-Dauleh. He was dismissed by
the Shah at the end of 1894, and his cousin Khan Baba Khan, son of Sam
[ Khan, the 4th chief, was granted the title of Muzaffar-us-Saltaneh and
appointed Chief of the Za’afaranlu tribe and Governor of Kuchan in his place,
with Sartip Ramzan Khan, the most favourite servant of Amir Husain
, Khan, as Deputy Governor. The intrigues caused by this change, however,
fed to the murder of Ramzan Khan, the removal of Khan Baba Khan and
the reinstatement of Muhammad Nasir Khan, about the middle of 1895.
Idle present Chief of Kuchan (1898), Muhammad Nasir Khan, Shuja’-
I ud-Dauleh, is a man of 34 years of age, (in 189&) and one of the most pro
minent chieftains in Khorasan. He is, however, proud, and extravagant
in'his personal expenditure. Among the Za’afaranlu, the chief is unpopular.
His pride and the exactions necessary to maintain his lavish expenditure
,■ are alleged to be the chief causes.
Muhammad Nasir Khan, Shuja’-ud-Dauleh, has no sons, only two
daughters, and it is said that owing to opium, charas, drink, etc., he is not
likely now to have a son. His elder brother Abdul Hasan Khan, who died
of cholera at Tehran in 1892, has left a son, named Abdul Riza Khan, now
about 18 years of age.
The Chief is on friendly terms with the Russians, receiving presents
from them. His father supplied the Russian troops in 1880-81 with pro
visions, and, like the other border chiefs, he respected and was grateful to
the power that had relieved him from the Turkoman raids.— (Napier ; Mac
Gregor \ O’’Donovan-, C. E. Yate; Mania Bakhsh.)
KtJCHAN (No. 2) or KHABGSHAN (Okdtown)— Lat. 37° 8'4"; Long.
>8° 24' 0" ; Elev 4,183 / (Lemni).
A town in northern Khorasan, containing some 2,000 houses, inhabited
by Za afaranlil Kurds, Turks, and Persians. Napier estimates the popula-
lisWiHi at 9,000. The town was in a ruinous condition in 1875, from til9