Page 73 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911

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RK8IDBNC7 FOR THE TEAR 1906-1906.

Chapter VI.—PERSIAN-MEKRAN COA8T.

Minab (exclusive) to Gwbttur (inclusive).
ADMINISTRATION REPORT, 1906-1006.
This stretch of Coast-line which includes the districts of Biyaban, Jask,
Gaih, Dashtyari and Bahu, lias since November 1904 been placed, so far as the
exercise of "Consular powers is concerned, within the sphere covered by the
Commission of His Britannic Majesty’s Consul and .Assistant Resident at
Bunder Abbas; but that officer has not 90 far been in a position to exercise
any practical supervision further east than Minab, as will be seen from the
preface to his Administration Report; and meanwhile the Director, Persian
Gulf Telegraphs, and ex-officio Political Officer for the Mekran Coast, has,
as hitherto, dealt with our interest as regards the tract through which the
Gwadur-Jask land telegraph line passes. The observations which follow with
regard to Jask, Gaih, Dashtyari and Babu are based on the reports of the
Director Mr. Whitby Smith and his Assistants, while the westernmost district,
Biyaban, lying between Jask and Minab, is treated of by tbe light of notes
recorded by Lieutenant R. L. Bird wood, Second Assistant to the Resident, who
traversed the country for the purpose of collecting information for the Gazetteer
now under preparation.
The several divisions are taken in geographical order from the north­
west to the south-east.
EIYABAJf.
The details of boundaries in these unsettled districts are liable to vary so
much according to the degree of effective
Boundaries.
control or influence exercised by their
petty Mirs that it is difficult to arrive at any authoritative exposition of them
which will remain reliable for long. With this reservation it may be said that
on the north and west the boundary of Biyaban marches with that of Minab
and that the most southern village at present under Minab is Ziarat, from the
south of which village Biyaban commences. On the south the boundary lies
between the Biyaban village of Bunji and tbe Jask village of Kuh-i-Mubarak.
The natives of Biyaban are all Baluchis of Sunni persuasion and chiefly
T . .. of “Rais” stock, and are practically
n a 1 an ' uninfluenced by the politics of Persia
proper. They are extremely ignorant and poor, ekiDg out a precarious
existence from the produce of their meagre date and grain cultivation, of
which they only grow sufficient for their own requirements, selling any
surplus they may hare to the coast villages where cultivation is not possible.
There are two routes through Biyaban in ordinary use, bifurcating at
Kalawi in the Minab district and meet­
Communication a.
ing again after passing through Biyaban
at (langan in the Jask Division. The track nearest the sea is known as the
Sea Boad ” (Rah-i-Darya) and the inner one as the “ Hill Road ” (Rah-i-
Kuh). The latter is very often impassable in winter owing to floods.
The administration of the district, so far as any exists, is conducted by a
Deputy Governor in the person of one of
Administration.
the Baluoh tribal Mirs holding office under
the Governor of the Gulf Ports. During the year under report tbe Deputy
Governorship has been in dispute between Mir Haji bin Mir Hussein and hia
relative Mir Barkat bin Abdul Nabi. The latter appears, to have gone to
Bushire to interview the Dorya Begi in October 1905 and to have obtained
from him the appointment of Deputy Governor in supersession of Mir Haji
whom be had managod to oust for the time being. Mir Haji then appealed
to the Deputy Governor of Bunder Abbas (Hia Excellency the Derya Bern’s
brother) and presumably having paid more than Mir Barkat, obtained