596 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1913. 



once to the tribes the most free in all Persia, to those inhabiting 

 southern Luristan toward the Ab-e-Diz River, between Khoramabad 

 and the Susiana (Khuzistan) plain on one side, and on the other 

 side between the frontiers of the Bakhtiyari and the eastern branch 

 of the Dirfoul River. 



It is in this region that in summer dwell the Seghvends, Direk- 

 vends, Bairan vends, and Hissa vends. It is there between the Ab-e- 

 Diz River and the Madian Rud that they sow their wheat; then 

 when cold w^eather begins to be felt, they go by short journeys toward 

 the valley of the Seiri-Mere River ^ to reach Arabistan and eastern 

 Pusht-i-Kuh. 



In these Seghvend tribes there are many khans, but only one high 

 chief. The others, who are his counselors and his vassals, all belong 

 to his family. The high chief represents the elder branch and 

 controls the most rayats and the largest herds. The others come 

 next, being the richer and more esteemed, the nearer their relation- 

 ship to the khan. Everything is done with common consent — the 

 farming, the changing of pastures, the choice of place for the camp, 

 the plundering of a weaker neighboring tribe or of a caravan cross- 

 ing the country — and it is with common consent also that they refuse 

 to pay rent to the King, when they importune the governor of the 

 Province in his city, when they rob officials on the road and even 

 entire regiments in the course of the journey. 



I have held very close and cordial relations w^ith the Seghvends, 

 for each year they come with their herds as far as Susa, and I have 

 employed hundreds of them as workmen during the last 15 years. 



It is a very interesting sight when ten or twelve thousand nomads 

 arrive on our plains pushing before them forty or fifty thousand 

 head of cattle. The invasion of the Huns in western Europe must 

 have presented the same aspect as this crowd spread out under the 

 walls of our chateau. It is a wave of animals loaded or free, of 

 men on horseback or foot, of women carrying their little children on 

 their backs, leading others by the hand, loaded with cooking uten- 

 sils, with spinning wheel or loom. Sheep, cows, horses, donkeys, 

 men and women, children, and dogs make a frightful sound to hear, 

 and the noise increases as the torrent ebbs and flows, and soon there 

 is only a roaring wave. On the right, the left, some groups stop, the 

 cattle and the mules are unburdened and the tents are set up. Some 

 blue fumes sifted from the hair of the tent cloths spread out in long 

 lines pushed by the breeze. In an instant all the brushwood of the 

 countrj^ is cut to make pens for sheep, setting for the tents, for a 

 great heap to feed the fires. Then the herds are spread out and 

 cover the plain, while the men circle among them guarding them, 



1 This river bears three names : Gamas in its upper part, Kerliihah in its middle por- 

 tion, and S^in-Mer6 when it passes into the plain of Arabistan. 



