‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎252r] (510/722)

in their internal jurisdiction. They consent to furnish a body of their
youth as soldiers, and to pay a small tribute, that they may obtain a share
of the produce of some of the fine valleys, which lie at the foot of the hills,
which they inhabit; and every effort is made to encourage them to occupy
those plains, not merely with the view ol rendering them more tangible
to the laws of the country, bub to prevent (by giving them an interest iu
the general peace and order of society) those frequently predatory attacks
which they are in the habit of making upon the more peaceable and civilised
part of the population of the kingdom.
The Arabian tribes, who are settled along the shores and on the islands
of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , continue to follow many of the usages of their ances
tors. The interference of the king or his officers in the internal rule of
these tribes depends upon the state of subjection in which they are to his
government; and that varies with those events which tend to weaken or
strengthen his authority over the part of his kingdom which they inhabit.
All the tribes who dwell upon the continent of Persia, when the country is
at peace, may be deemed subject to the authority of the officers of the
government; but these seldom exercise any control over the inhabitants of
the islands, even when the latter profess an allegiance to the monarch of
Persia.
It is the custom in Persia for the principal officers of the empire and
the chiefs of tribes, who are employed or dwell at a distance, to have a part
of their family at the capital. These hostages (for such they are deemed)
are always watched, but seldom strictly guarded, unless where the person
for whose fidelity they are a pledge is suspected of treason. When he
actually rebels, they are sometimes put to death; but examples of this
severity are not frequent. The dread of their occurrence, however, while it
retains numbers in the path of duty, makes every ruler who is at all inde
pendent refuse, as long as he is able to do so, to comply with this custom;
and his consenting to send his eldest son, or any part of his family, to
remain at court, is always considered as a token of complete submission.
The condition of the principal feudatories of Persia has been noticed.
These, though they acknowledge the paramount power of the monarch,
have always denied his right of interference in the internal government of
their country. The Vali of Ardalan, in Kurdistan, still enjoys the dignity
and privileges that belonged to his ancestors. This chief exercises all the
functions of a sovereign within the limits of his hereditary possessions.
His system of government is, in its general features, the same as that
established in other parts of Persia, only that his personal authority is
limited by the situation in which he is placed ; for he is checked in the
exercise of his power by the fear of the superior lord, as well as the
necessity of preserving that attachment to his person which constitutes his
strength.
Though there are several cities in Kurdistan, the military tribes of that
country seldom inhabit either towns or considerable villages, nor do they
assemble, except for purposes of war, in large encampments. The dwelling
of the native of this province is often solitary; and, whether the Kurds
reside in houses or tents, it is seldom that more than a few families dwell
together. This custom, whether it arises from the nature of the country,
or from adherence to ancient usage, is calculated to retard every progress
to improvement. We have, indeed, evidence of the inhabitants of this
country continuing in an unchanged state for more than twenty centuries.
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