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expulsion of tho Chaab from Dowasir, the emancipation of the tribe from any
further political dependency upon Bussorah may be regarded as the actual and
legitimate issue of the contest.
Another circumstance, which at this time tended to completo the with­
drawal of the Cliaab from the control of
Founding of Fellahiah iu tho Pcroiau territory.
Turk* y was the removal of the residence
of the Sheikh from the Guban to the Jerrahi. It occurred in the following
manner Kerim Khan, to weaken and distress his adversary, had destroyed
the famous dam which divided tlio waters of the Karoon, and the channel of
the Guban had thus a second time become almost dry. When Sheikh Salman
accordingly returned after the withdrawal of the Persians and found his
capital in ruins and the lands around it deprived of the moans of irrigation,
ho had to make hi9 election between again undergoing the labor and expense
of constructing a dam, subject at auy moment to destruction by any enemy
possessed of superior forces in the Gold, and permanently fixing his residence
in a more favorable situation, when the water should be his protection rather
than his ruin. Ho adopted tho latter course and founded Fellahiah.
The founding of Fellahiah being one of the great epochs in Chaab history
it may be interesting to observe tho general political appearance which the
tribe exhibited at that period. About four-fifths of the extent of country
occupied by tho Chaab was unquestionably Persian territory and the liability of
the tribe to pay to the Persian Crown the revenues of these lands, if that power
were in a condition to assort its rights, docs not appear ever to have been
questioned.
When the Chaab indeed first came in contact with the Persian Afshars
and dispossessed them of their lands on
Opening of political connexion with Persia
the Jerrahi, Sheik Salman for a short time
continued to pay to tho "Walee of Howeizah the same amount of revonuo,
which had been realized from the former occupants. Kerim Khan’s first
invasion also was undertaken in consequence of the stoppage of this payment of
revenue and the Sheikh actually disbursed a considerable sum to him on his
withdrawal. The second Persian invasion it is true was rather a campaign
undertaken for the reduction of a rebellious province, than a mere expedition
to levy tribute, hut the negotiations which were carried on between Sheikh
Salman and the Persian monarch during the progress of hostilities had a
general reference to the amount of assessment (or mahyat) to be imposed upon
the tribe. It was never contended, in fact, but that the Chaab were liable to
the Persian Crown for the rent of the lands which they cultivated on the
Jerrahi, tho Hiudiau and the upper part of tho course of the Karoon, and I
infer from the increased connection which is observable between the Persian
Government and the Chaab, subsequently to the foundation of Fellahiah, that
the distinction between this liability for the payment of rent as tenants of the
soil and of a fixed tribute as subjects, was gradually lost sight of; and that the
Chaab residing for the most part in the Persian territory governed by a Chief
whose capital of Fellahiah was within the well established frontier of the
province of Pars, and subjected almost yearly to demands for revenue from the
Persian Crown, come to be regarded as Turkish colonists who had emigrated
to the Persian territory and by a continued residence of mauy years had
naturalized themselves as Persian subjects.
The arguments of tho Turkish Government in favor of its uninterrupted
claim to the allegianoe of the Chaab are
Turkey maintains l.or claim.
simply these, that it bad never made any
formal renunciation of its rights; that tho. Chaab, notwithstanding tho i
removal of the seat of Government to Fellahiah, continued to hold lands upon
the Haffar and Shat-el-Arab, subject to Jlussovah, and even to pay the revenues
of these lands to the Governor of that city: that the Meer-i-Kalamiyah for­
merly payable by the tribe was merely withhold because the district of Guban,
to which it particularly referred, had become desert, and that a robe of otfioe
was frequently also furnished to tlie Sheikh of Chaab, long after his settlement
on the Jerrahi, in accordance with the old fashion of anuual investiture.
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