'The Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society. From January 1863 to December 1864. (Edited by the Secretary.) Volume XVII.' [‎153] (322/524)

153
FROM BUSHIRE TO SHIHAUZ.
firma. Among all recent Governors General of Fars only one received
the title Firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’). -firma. It is probable the present prince will receive it,
as being the Shah’s eldest son; but it does not follow of necessity that
he should do so.
43. The prince being only 14 years of age, much of the real re
sponsibility of government devolves on his deputy, the Zaheer-ood-
Dowleh, who was Master of the Ceremonies at Court when I was in
the Legation. Both personages received me with those marks of
ceremony and graciousness which perhaps no court better understands
how to observe than that of Persia.
44. I do not regard Shirauz as a mercantile town, properly so
called. It is rather a convenient central point of agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. , and the
centre of an agricultural district. The large majority of the popula
tion are agricultural, or connected therewith. There are scarce any
principals of firms, but some agents who receive goods coming to and
from Bushire, Lingah, and Bunder Abbass, and transmit them whether
to Ispahan, Tehran, Yezd, Kerman, or elsewhere.
45. From Shirauz to Bunder Abbass through Lar may be 25 days
caravan route, viz. 10 to Lar and 15 days on. Lar is the point where
the road diverges down a bad route to Lingah, which may be 10 days
arduous caravan journey. The road from Shirauz to Kerman may be
10 to 12 days’ caravan journey, but the trade to Kerman, as also to
Yezd, is mainly from Bunder Abbass, a comparatively trifling portion
reaching those places from Bushire via Shirauz.
46. The general opinion at Shirauz seemed to be, that the trade pass
ing through Abbass is greater than that passing through Bushire, but
that the consumption of Bushire and its neighbourhood being larger than
that of Abbass, Bushire is the better known port. Supplies are obtain
able along the Abbass road so far as Lar: from thence onwards vou
must carry your own provender, and even water.
47. I append a memorandum drawn up by an old Mirza at Shirauz
on the Province of Fars in general. It is probably as reliable as any
document one could obtain from a Persian who has had 60 or 70 years’
opportunity of observing the details of the country he summarises. By
Fars however must be understood the province of Fars in its largest
extent, reaching from Bunder Abbass on the South to within a few
stages of Ispahan on the North, to near Kerman on the East, and to
20 g