'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOL. III. PART I: A to K' [‎398r] (800/1278)

HAI—HAI
391
Transport and communications. —The district, it is believed, apart from
the town of Bandar Rig, can furnish about 350 horses, 250 camels, 150 mules
and 2,000 donkeys. There appear to be no serious obstacles to the move
ment of transport. It is possible to march along the coast, and the inland
route from Borazjun to Zaidan traverses the district via the villages of Char
Rusta, Gah Safid, ’Abbasi, Mahmad Sadi and Bahmiari; there is also a route
from Bandar Rig to Deh Kuhneh in the Shabankareh district.
Haidar Khan Administration. —The district is governed by a hereditary
Khan of Lur descent, who has his residence at Bandar Rig and is subject to
the Governor of the Gulf Ports. At present he pays 8,000 tumdns yearly
for the farm of the district. Criminal justice is dispensed by this Khan and
by one of his brothers who acts as his deputy at Char Rusta. Documents
are attested and civil disputes are settled in every village by the local Kazi
or Mulla, except matrimonial cases which it is usual to refer to the Kazi or
Mulla of some neighbouring village. The general administration is conducted
through the headmen of the villages, who in this district are termed Raids.
There are no regular police, but the retainers of the Khan look to the safety of
the roads. Land-revenue is collected at the rate of 60 or 70 krdns per gdu
of cutivation ; there are no other taxes. The only direct representatives of
the Persian Government are a postmaster and a telegraph master at Bandar
Rig and Persian Custom officials at Bandar Rig and Ganaveh.
Armed forces.—The, armed forces at the disposal of Haidar Khan are
estimated at 1,500 to 2,000 tufangchis in normal times. In May 1909,
Haidar Khan despatched some 400 armed men to Bushire to assist the
Daria Begi in his expedition to Tangistan. Haidar Khan can also dispose
of the armed forces of Rud Hilleh, some 700 tufangchis, as well as the con
tingents of Ganaveh and Liravi, numbers unknown. Haidar Khan afforded
courageous personal assistance to the British Resident, and H.M.S.
Highflyer, in arresting pirates at Ganaveh in 1908.
History. —The district abounds with ruins and traces of an extreme
civilization which have not yet (1905) been investigated ; and there is muck
mention, in local traditions, of fire-worship surviving to a comparatively
recent period. The bricks found at some of the old sites are said to resemble
those of Ctesiphon. A century ago, the town of Bandar Rig was in the
possession of a family of the Zab tribe, who are now found chiefly in Trucial
Oman ; another account says that the Mir tribe, under Mir Muhanna, were
in possession of the town. According to this version the Mirs came from
Hindiagan and drove the Persian officials from Bandar Rig, and, at a later
date, the Dutch from their settlement on Kharak island. They are said to
be the descendants of Mir Muhanna at Kuvait. The leader of the Zab
is said to have been Mir Mahran, but he was killed in a practical expedition
against Basrah ; the tribe consequently lost their hold on the place, and were
succeeded by a family of Lurs whose founder had been a follower of Mir
Muhanna. These maintained their position until about 1870 when the
father of the present Khan of Bandar Rig, who was already Khan of the
Haiat Daud district, succeeded in removing the Bandar Rig Khan of that
day, the grandson of the first Lur Khan, by treacherously throwing him
down a well at Arash, which he then caused to be filled up. He then in
corporated the Khanate of the town with his own rural Khanate.