"استطلاعات في بلاد الرافدين وكردستان وشمال غرب بلاد فارس ولرستان في الفترة من أبريل إلى أكتوبر ١٨٨٨، كتبها المقدم ف. ر. مونسيل، فرع الاستخبارات. يوجد مجلدان. المجلد الأول: تقرير سردي ووصف للمدن الكبرى والطرق المؤدية منها. شيملا: فرع الاستخبارات، إدارة قائد الإمداد والتموين، ١٨٩٠" [و‎‎١‎٤‎٧] (٣١٢/٢٩٨)

EARMANSHAH.
Karmanshah (4,760') occupies the centre of a fertile grain-producing dis
trict, and is a point of convergence for tlie principal trade routes entering
West Persia and is situated at the foot of some spurs from a low range of hills
which forms the southern boundary of the plain through which the Kara-Su
flows. _ . , .
It is a town of 6,500 houses, and contains 40,000 inhabitants, all or them
Kurds and Persians of the Shiah Muhammadan faith, a mixed lot of no par
ticular tribe, with about 300 Jews and a few families of Baghdad Christians.
There are some fine buildings in the town, most of them in a state of
decay from disrepair.
Muhammad Agha Hassan, the British Agent, is the principal citizen, and
is a man of considerable wealth and influence in the surrounding district.
Out of‘200 villages in this district, he is said to own 100, and is constantly
adding to his property.
His universal probity and honesty make him much respected. Pie has a
special house set apart to entertain European travellers on passing through.
He is a British subject, and consequently the Persian Government has no
power to squeeze any of his riches, as they invariably do any of their own
subjects who make any parade of their wealth.
He has made several improvements in the town, opening out one very
crowded portion of the town into a public square, and building and repairing
several caravanserais. There are six in the town, all of which he owns. ^ Her
Majesty had a month previous to my arrival conferred on him the C. M. G., of
which he was very proud.
The illumination of the town and the rejoicings which took place under
his auspices on the occasion of the celebration of Her Majesty’s Jubilee last year
were remembered as being the finest display for many years in Karmaushah.
The town was once surrounded by a mud wall, now in ruins and entirely
thrown down in several places. It is oblong in shape 1| miles by 1 mile,
and at the north-west extremity is the governor’s palace and garden, a fine
building, lately repaired, but still rather delapidated.
The Telegraph office is on the line from Tihran to Baghdad and is situ
ated overlooking the central square called the Maidan-i-Nua. In the centre of
the town on a knoll is the Arsenal, an enclosed building, well kept and in a
good state of repair. A new artillery commandant had arrived a few months
ago from Tihran and had put things in very good order. r l here are 500 rifles,
all of them Austrian Werndls, in store and about 1,500 rounds of rifled and
smooth-bore ammunition for the field guns.
There were two 12-pr. Austrian Krupp guns kept in a shed adjoining the
public square, and also two 6-pr. bronze smooth-bore field guns.^
There are some 500 men quartered here ", their uniform is a blue tunic
with red facings, and they are armed with smooth-bore, percussion muskets
of a very ancient pattern. Four regiments could be raised among the neigh
bouring Kurdish tribes, but they are not now embodied.
The Governor is the Hisam-ul-Mulk, a Persian official from Tihran, notable
chiefly for the extreme cruelty with which he administers the law. I
attended a reception which he held in the courtyard of the Arsenal and where
two bands were in attendance.