k has thus been rendered very easy and every
assistance was offered to caravans, while a regular service of river
steamers plied from Mahommerah to Ahwaz, to relieve the traffic by
water. The s.s. _Blosse Lynch_, 250 tons, was sent up at first, but was
too large, so the s.s. _Malamir_, 120 tons, was specially built for the
Karun navigation.

Matters were very prosperous at first, until many obstacles came in the
way. The road has been open to traffic some three years. The first year
traffic was healthy and strong, but the second year, owing to famine in
Arabistan, the traffic suddenly dropped and nothing would induce
muleteers to travel by that route. Although they were offered as much as
100 (L2) to 110 krans (L2 4_s._) per load from Isfahan to Ahwaz, a
distance of 17 stages--277 miles--they preferred to take 70 krans (L1
9_s._ 2_d._) to Bushire, a journey of about 30 stages, over a distance of
510 miles.

The caravan men in Persia are curious people to deal with, and it takes a
very long time to imbue their minds with new ideas. In the case of the
Ahwaz road it was partly conservatism and fear instigated by the Mullahs
that prevented their taking loads to the steamers.

It was fully expected that the route could not pay its way for at least
five years from its inauguration, and the British Government--which at
that time seemed to understand the value of the undertaking--agreed to
give in equal shares with the Government of India a collective guarantee
against losses up to L3,000 for the first two years, then of L2,000 for
five years. For some unaccountable reason the Government of India, which
the scheme mostly concerned, dropped out, and the guarantee was further
reduced to L1,000 payable by the home Government only. As a result of
this the steamers have been run since at a considerable loss, and had it
not been for the patriotism of Lynch Brothers, and the prospects to which
they still cling of a successful issue, the navigation of the Karun would
have already come to an untimely end.

The principal article of export of any importance was wheat, grown in
enormous quantities in the fertile plains of Arabistan; and were its
export legal, the export of grain would be infinitely greater than the
whole of the present imports. But the Persian Government unfortunately
prohibited the export of grain from Persia, nominally to allay and
prevent famine in the country, in fact to enrich local governors by
permitting illicit