600 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1913. 



to visit this tribe, but its chief, Asian Khan (The lion chief), dis- 

 suaded me in very convincing terms. Never had any man foreign to 

 his tribe trod the soil of his little domain and he held guard over 

 its secrets. 



" Thou laiowest Mesched-i-Nassr," ^ he said to me. " Well, go and 

 find him and tell him that he is a Peder Soukhte,^ because he eats 

 money, and that if he wants to get any from me he must make the 

 search himself." 



During this conversation the followers of this prince stole the 

 roasting spits from my cook. 



After having discussed some of the subseigniors, we will speak of 

 the principal ones, some real feudal princes, who, though Persians of 

 the twentieth century, are the same as were the dukes of Burgundy 

 or Brittany in France at the time of Louis XI. There are a few of 

 them elsewhere, the principal ones are the Vahli of Pusht-i-Kuh, 

 that of Bakhtiyari and the Sheik of Arabistan. The first two are 

 from old Iranian stock ; the third is a genuine Arab Melek, a digni- 

 fied successor of the sovereign princes of Characene, a country of 

 which he owns the greater part. 



The Vahlis of Pusht-i-Kuh, that is, "back of the mountain," or 

 " outer mountain," have been masters for some centuries of their 

 principality which reaches to the confines of Mesopotamia, from 

 the interior by a rapid river, the Sein-Mere, and a high chain of 

 mountains. Kebir Kuh (Mount Kebir) opens at only a few places 

 and like a wall protects the territories of the Vahli against incursions. 

 These people, few in number, thus pass their lives almost exclusively 

 on the slope of Mesopotamia. In summer snow and fresh pasturage 

 are found at Mount Kebir. In the plain below grow the date, the 

 orange, and the pomegranate. A day's journey by horse brings one 

 from snow to the torrid heat of Mesopotamia; but it takes about six 

 days to cross this principality from north to south. Numerous 

 streams descend from Mount Kebir toward the Tigris, but without 

 reaching it, for the fields take possession of the waters and by a 

 thousand canals spread them on the lands. 



Pusht-i-Kuh is situated northwest of the roads leading from 

 Arabistan into Iran, properly speaking,^ across Luristan and the coun- 

 tries of the Bakhtiyari. This country lies south of the route from 

 Bagdad to Ilamaden,* through Kermanshah, and its position be- 

 tween two important routes of travel, as well as its frontier pro- 



1 Nassr ed Din Shah who having made the pilgrimage of Mesched had right to the 

 title of Meschedi. 



- " Son of a scorched father," the highest insult of Persians. 



* In olden times the royal route from Persepolis to Ct^slphon traversed the eastern 

 part of Pusht-i-Kuh, and one still sees traces of it in the ruins of the Sassanlde-de-Pa-i- 

 Poul bridge over the Kerkhah, from the place called Bayftt to the frontiers of Turkey. 



* This road was the one followed by the royal route from Babylon to Ecbatana 

 (Hamadeu) ; it passed through the gorges of Zagros, where numerous traces are found. 



