Page 376 - 5 Persian Trade rep BUSHIRE I_Neat

the outftaniling fealures-of 191 1-1- in an aggra­ There wa« a Kuligclu raid on’the road near
vated form, viz. s— Dashtarjin in December, in wliiea a British
(i) Insecurity of .ran,,*,., nnd .«.«!*:
along (lie routes. • faring increased, a caravan was attacked, mules
(ii) Exceptionally luavy imjorts of cotton were lifted by hostile tribesmen, fighting near
goods. Shehpur closed the road for 3 days.
(iii) Depression of markets. At the end of February I M3, merchants in
(iv) Prohibitive rates of hire to Shiraz and ; Shiraz and Busbire and mul* :• rs sig .in pet:ti« ned
. the Governor-Gvncial «»f F-.-s for sanction to
Isfahan.
avoid extortion, now confined to the south of
The doorcase in rates of hire which was effected Kazenin, and ill treatment, by adopting the
in the winter of 1012, may indeed he given as ; Firnzahad route. This was immediately followed
one of the chief accessories of the present and by the Khan of IJorazjun j reventing muleteers
prospective improvement in trade. 1 fmm proceeding to Push ire, and encouraging them
The safety, continuity, and cheapness of caravan I 1 to.strike for higher rates of hire, a strike which
transjiort were affected by the following events lasted from the cud of February to the beginning
>nnetted with the Bushirv-Shir.iz, Shiruz-Isfahan, of April 1913.
and Ahwaz-Isfahan routes during the period. Rahtlari Exactions from Car awns.—A9 com­
Bmhin-Shira: Road.—The year opened with no pared with the total recorded in 1911-12, ex­
Governor-General in Fars and with the tribesmen tortion from muleteers advanced steadily up till
very ill disposed towards Kuro;--ans and caravan November 1912, when the advent of Gendar­
tratlic generally. Exorbitant blackmail was tak-'n merie on the road 1> tween Kazeran and Shiraz
from tra\oilers by force and threats. Feuds effected a reduction. Jlv March ll'13, however,
l«ctween Chiefs caused tralfio upwards to kc divert- j the sums bad been vindictively increased at
ed from Kumarij over the mountains to Kazo- various points, fodder was Icing charged at the
ruu to avoid the Ka«hkuli trile, and downward : rate of .Cl per mule between Jlushire and Shiraz:
traffic diverted by the Kashkulis by the Kuhmarreli I and rifiemen were mulcting muleteers in large
route, in order to isolate Kazerun. By May serious ■ .-upplies of loaf-sugar equal to the value of 0
disturbances had broken out between the nomads ( Kraus (2#. 1//.) per inule.
and Kashkuli tribesmen and the inhabitants of l
Kazerun, which caused Persian merehants to j 1911-12. i 1912-13. Ter mule.
su>j*ud forwardings. !
In August the stage betwo-n Kuanch Zini««n | i Krs. Cts. \ Knj. Cu. :
and Shiraz became unsafe und caravans were . «. d.
forced to make a luug detour, under escort for i March . . • 11 00 : 21 co 7 9
which they had to pay very dearly to tribal Chiefs, j
Following on the death of the Kalautar of Kumarij i Aj-ril 15 30 !
in July, general hostilities look j-lace south of Kaze- j v : 27 50 10 0
run, more particularly on the Konar Tokhtch plain, * '* 3
where the feuds between the various sedentary j July • 16 35 : 32 30 11 9
Chiefs extended over a large area. I ! 17 95 ;
At the beginning of October 19*2 traffic was September 44 So 10 0
held up at Borazjun for about K» days owing j October . 47 30 17 i
to a dispute between the Khans of Bomzjan
and Kazerun, and heavy exactions were taken November 25 15 9 0
from muleteers. The Kalantar of Kazerun retort­ December 21 €0 7 9
ed later on in the month by detaining all moles at
Kazerun for 12 days, until the disagreement i January . 28 12 26 35 9 4
was smoothed over.
March . 21 35 29 65 10 10
The Governor-Gene nil of Fars arrived at Shiraz
during the mouth, and immediately proceeded
to entrust the road from Shiraz to Kazerun to 150 Thus goods were being taxed as much as
gendarmes and 110 local rillcmen. Owing to the £5-19-0 per ton per 1 bo miles in October, and
absence of the Kashgai trills in their summer about .£13-3-0 at the end of the period; muleteers
quarters this movement was effected without had to pay in the first instance, bat the merchants
opposition. felt the effect in rates of hire. And it should be
By October conditions on the road reached remembered that as much again as the sums in
the above list was Leir.g taken in extortionate
the climax of extortion and harsh treatment of fodder charges, and exactions in kind.
muleteers. The ride reigned supreme, and pilfer­
ing and extraction of goods were causing severe Rates of mute-hire Bushire to Shirax.—As ill-
losses. There was a general but abortive move­ treatment and extortion on the road increased, rates
ment bv merchants in Shiraz and Bushire for a of hire rose rapidly to sums undreamt of in former
tiausferof the caravan route to the Firuzabad road, years: mule-brokers and muleteers joined hands
in order to escape from the tyranny on the main to push up rites, while forwarding merchants,
caravan route. instead of realizing that it should be the object of
Hostilities broke out in the immediate hinler- each one to forward more cheaply than his brotner
laud of Budiirc at the end of October, and early merchant, went to the opposite extreme of outr
Lidding one another.
in November the Tangistuni tribesmen entren­
ched thoui-clves aero? a the route and prevented The figures below give rates per 100 mans
.,a.ss-ge of caravans for 5 days. (775 lbs.) of piece-goods over a distance of 135