Page 680 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911

POLITICAL RESIDENCY FOR 1011.
78
the exceptionally good rains had produced. In June, transport was so diffi­
cult to obtain and such quantities of goods intended for up-country had
accumulated in the godowns of Ahwaz merchants that Messrs. Lynch Brothers
warned shippers that they were unable to forward goods and aavised them to
ccaso shipping to Ahwaz for the time.
In June Tebi raiding parties appeared near the road, and a week or two
later a caravan was plundered at Laghamgir. Shortly afterwards the caravan­
serai at Shalil was raided and all goods lying there carried of! or destroyed.
When the news of these robberies became known traffic ceased completely
and such goods as were lying at the various stages on the road were at the
mercy of Tebi raiders or Bakhtiari tribesmen. Caravanserai after caravan­
serai was plundered and the acting Khans took no steps to prevent further
ipbberies or punish the offenders—who, in many cases, were their own sub­
jects.
In August, Messrs. Lynch’s Ispahan Agent went to see the Khans at
Chigakhor and persuaded them to provide him with an escort of 60 tufang-
chis with whom he traversed the road to Ahwaz arriving early in October.
It was arranged with the Khans that 250 other tufangchis should be sent
down soon after him to picket the road. Shortly after the arrival of Lynch's
Agent in Ahwaz, the cholera/, which was raging in Arabistan, reached
Malamir and all thought of guarding the road was abandoned.
The road thus remained unguarded and closed to traffic until November
when snow on the mountain passes closed the roads used by Kuhgilu raiders
and ensured its safety. From this date until the close of toe year traffic was
resumed, and the accumulation of goods at both ends of the road considerably
reduced.
The losses of goods on the road through robberies is estimated at some
£15,000 of which over £10,000 was the property of British subjects.
The following table shows the goods forwarded over the Lynch Road
and numbers of animals employed during the year under report as compared
with the two preceding years:—

Dwcription. 1909. 1910. 1911.

Cwts. 16,259 * 26,397} 12,844
{ Animals 7,164 10,294 5,416
Ahwaz to Ispahan
Cwtf. 13,440 7,657} 6,560}
• •{ Animals 4,835 2,561 2,293
Ispahan to Ahwaz

The insecurity of the road during the year and the consequent damage
to trade in general and British trade in particular was due to two causes.
The first was the absence of all the senior Khans from the Bakhtiari country
during the greater part of the year, and the consequent relaxation of control
over the tribesmen. The second cause was the calling out of all available
tufangchis by the Khans for their military campaigns in Northern Persia,
thus leaving the tribesmen helpless to resist Kuhgilu raids.
The negotiations between Messrs. Lynch Brothers and the Bakhtiari
Chiefs regarding the repairs to the Godar bridge were concluded towards the
close of the year the Khans agreeing to pay the sum of Krans 60,000 for the
work.
Mr. Sotham and an assistant engineer arrived in Nasiri in November to
collect the necessary workmen and material prior to proceeding to the bridge.
Messrs. Lynch Brothers.—Mr. Tod was in charge of the Ahwaz agency
British intend.. °f thi.3 fl™ »“til Ortober whenh?
. . f transferred to Baghdad, his place peine
taken by his Assistant, Mr. Abel, and Mr. Batt from Baghdad appointed
u