"دليل بلاد فارس، الجزء III، وهو يتضمن محافظة فارس، لورستان، عربستان، خوزستان، يزد، كرمانشاه، أردلان، كردستان" [ظ‎‎٢‎٣‎٤] (٦٨٦/٤٧٣)

446
LOll—LUR
♦
The country rising from the coast in a succession of table-lands, it
follows that the southern and western slopes of these hills are longer
than the northern and eastern.
They are seldom inhabited to any considerable extent, except during
the winter, when rain-water accumulates in the bottoms, and the hills
are then clothed with grass and flowers. The soil is favourable to the
growth of corn and barley.
To the south and west of the low hills are those vast plains known
by the Persians as Arabistan, stretching in one
Gulf plains. almost interrupted flat to the Tigris, the Shatt-
ul-Arab, and the sea.
With reference to the character of the Feili tribes of Lurs, the
, i. • i. Dirikawand, Judeki, Hassanwand, Bairanwand,
Luri-i-Kuchak distnc . &e ^ 0 CCU pyi n g these hills, no doubt they
are at present lawless and intractable; but were their chiefs ^ treated
with justice and firmness, robbery and murder in the first instance
ruthlessly but continuously repressed, and an equitable revenue only
exacted from them, perfect security would soon reign throughout
these now impassable hills, and commerce would again flow in its
natural channel via Shustar to the Gulf.
With Haji "All Khan were 1,000 families of the Sagwand subdivi
sion of the Bajilan tribe; with his brother, who is at enmity with
him, are 500 families; he described his tribe as being impoverished
by government exactions, which they were unable to meet; certainly,
none of them were wealthy, and many were poor,
Haji ’Ah Khan. w here all should have been rich. Haji 'All
Khan may be described as a “ chip of the old block.” In character
he resembles Kalk 'AH Khan, the murderer of Captains Grant and
Fotheringham. Many deeds of cruelty and severity are laid to his
charge, and perhaps nothing can instance the increasing power now
exercised by Persia over these still lawless tribes, and the restraint
that their chiefs have to put upon themselves, than the conduct
of Haji 'AH Khan during the time that the party remained his
guests.
Notwithstanding the letter from the Ilkhani of the Bakhtiaris, he
at first received the party coldly and inhospitably; supplies were
obtained with difficulty, and not until asked for. Rumours began to
spread that I was a sartip, called to Tihran by the Shah to join the
army, and that I was also about to visit the Zil-us-Sultan, the only
man feared in these hills. They had, no doubt, been spread by the
resident Wazir at Dizful as a means of securing from Haji 'AH fail-
treatment. They had the desired effect; Haji 'AH now acknowledged
me as his guest, and directed his tribe to sell to the party whatever
provisions they required.
He and his numerous sons, together with the Sharif-ud-din, a mulla
who travelled with him, frequently visited our
The Sagwand Lurs. cam p to chat, and never w T earied in admir
ing our arms, clothes, saddlery, &e„ and my orderly and myself daily