‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎269r] (544/722)

Lak tribes, and from tbe ordinary peasantry. The Iliats have the reputa
tion of being- the best soldiers, though not quite deservedly. The best
regiments are those composed of the above classes indiscriminately. A
pernicious habit exists in Persia of organising regiments in tribes, by
which means clannish feelings have been nurtured; and in such cases,
collisions between rival septs and regiments require to be guarded against.
As before said, the flower of the Persian army is drawn from Azarbaijan.
Less compulsion is necessary to obtain recruits in that province than in any
other part of the kingdom. The Iliats of Karmanshah have also a high
reputation, and, above all, the regiments from the two famous Lak tribes
of Kalhiir and Guran, which were at one time commanded by Sir Henry
Rawlinson. X have seldom seen finer-looking soldiers than those of Kaihur.
“ As the Persian soldier is good, so the oflicers are the reverse. Except
ing those of the artillery, and the few now remaining who have undergone
English instruction, they are worthless. Favour and bribery are the ground
work of promotion. A person who has passed forty or fifty years of life
in pursuits wholly unmilitary, is suddenly metamorphosed into a full colonel
or brigadier, occasionally into a general, or even into a commander-in-chief.
The other ranks are filled in much the same manner. In the tribe regi
ments the position in the clan established the rank in the regiment.
“ The artillery amounts to about 6,000 men, of whom nearly half are
from Azarbaijan. The last named body is incomparably the best corps in the
service, still preserving the traces of “ Lindsay sahib/"’ They are soldierly,
active, workmanlike fellows, who take their guns anywhere. They are all
mounted, it being the practice to station upwards of thirty men to each gun,
who are to defend as well as fight it. I remember on one occasion seeing-
>30 guns moving out of camp on some expedition, accompanied by a battalion
of 800 men. A Russian general looking on expressed his amazement that
so many pieces of artillery should have so few infantry for their defence.
He was not aware that, in Persia, it is artillery that is expected to defend
the infantry.
“ It is to the English nation that the Persian government is indebted
for all its materials of war. Under the instruction of English artificers,
a foundry was established at Tabriz, where guns and shot of every descrip
tion were cast, gun-carriages were built,. musket ammunition prepared,
harness worked ; and outside the town an efficient powder-mill was con
structed, where good service powder is manufactured at the cost of 4>d.
a pound. These warlike appurtenances were transferred to Tihran, where
they still are in operation.
“ The regular infantry is nominally rated at more than 100,000 men ;
but what with false returns, incomplete regiments, and men on leave, who
never return, the number does not in reality exceed 70,000. Of the. above
number, no less than 25,000 are taken from the martial province of
Azarbaijan.
Internal discipline may be said to have no existence in the Persian army.
Parade discipline does not extend much beyond the knowledge of getting
from column into line, and the reverse, with some awkward attempts at
the formation of a square.
(e All these troops are armed with flint muskets and bayonets, chiefly
English. The greater part of these arms may be pronounced to be in an
inefficient state. The men are clothed in blue linen jackets supplied by
the state, under which, in cold weather, their own clothes are ciammed.