'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from January 1847 to May 1849. Edited by the Secretary. Volume VIII.' [‎276] (385/496)

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the abstraction of the ryot from the scene, of his toil would be attended
by utter ruin. In this alternative there was no remedy but to obtain
from the Agent himself, who—having foreseen, and indeed created, the
calamity—was ever ready to lend, at an exorbitant interest, the sum re
quired ; the flocks, crops, and even the household goods, of the borrower
being at the same time mortgaged as a guarantee for payment. The
result can easily be anticipated: debt accumulated on debt, and within a
year the whole property of a once thriving family became a prey to the
officers of Government who should have protected it! Families thus
driven from their peaceful abodes infested the highways in search of
plunder.
Troops were sent to quell the disorders, which had originated in the
acts of Government, and, failing in their object, from the nomade habits
of the marauders, the tribe to which they belonged were not only com
pelled to refund a sum equivalent to the property said to have been
stolen, but, at the same time, were bound in the payment of a large
amount for the future transgressions of the delinquents. The grasping
policy of the Amir or his subordinates soon found pretences for the
acquirement of a penalty which coercion could alone obtain,—the attempts
at which occasioned a general appeal to arms, and finally ended in open
rebellion. The state of the troops in the province, from the causes
already related, was unequal to the emergency, and the Amir was thus
compelled, by a disgraceful compromise, to pacify the insurgents until
reinforcements are obtained from the capital. Before, however, this vi
sitation takes place, the tribe will have abandoned the soil for some more
peaceful district, leaving nothing but mined hovels and smoking fields
for the oppressor to glut his vengeance upon. Thus are individuals
driven to crime, whole families ruined, tribes forced to quit the territory
derived from their ancestors ; and to these causes we must, in a great
measure, assign the depopulation and impoverishment both of Persia
and Turkey.
All this is, however, a digression from the description of Gahwarab,
which I now resume. Of the same elevation above the sea as Kirrind, it
lies at the foot of what may be termed the S. E. prong of the Dalahu
range, the culminating point of the Zagros. If we except the projecting
point of Ban-zardeh, the form of this high ridge, or crest, may be likened
to an irregular horse-shoe, with its convexity to the N. and its
prongs gradually curving, at a distance of ten miles apart, to the S. r •
The village of Kirrind occupies a position near the extremity of the