BAKHTIARI  , one of the

great nomad tribes of Persia, whose camping-grounds are in the hilly district, known as the Bakhtiari province . This province extends from Chaharmahal (west of Isfahan) in the E., to near Shushter in the W., and separated from Luristan in the N. by the Dizful river (Ab i Diz), and in the S touches Behbahan and Ram Hormuz . The Bakhtiari are divided into the two great divisions Haft-lang and Chahar-lang, and a number of branches and clans, and were known until the 15th century as the " Great Lurs," the " Little Lurs " being the tribes settled in the district now known as Luristan, with Khorremabad as capital . According to popular tradition the Lurs originally came from Syria in the loth century, but it is now held that they were in Persia long, perhaps fifteen centuries, before . They speak the Lur language, a Persian dialect . The Bakhtiari number about 38,000 or 40,000 families, under 200,000 souls, while the area of the district occupied by them is about 25,000 sq. m . In the middle of the rgth century they could put 20,000 well-equipped horsemen into the field, but in consequence of misrule and long-lasting feuds between the different branches, which the government often fostered, or even instigated, the, district has become poor, and it would now be difficult to find 4000 horsemen . The province is under the governor-general of Arabistan, and pays a yearly tribute of about 45000 . The chiefs of the Bakhtiari in 1897, having nbtained the shah's permission for improving the road between Shushter or Ahvaz and Isfahan, an iron suspension bridge with a span of 120 ft. was erected over the Karun river at Gudar i Bulutek;another, with a span of 7o ft., over the Bazuft river at Pul i Amarat; and a stone bridge over the Karun at Do-pu-lan; For accounts of the Bakhtiari see Mrs Bishop (Isabella Bird), Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan (London, 1893) ; C. de Bode, Travels in Luristan (London, 1841) ; Lord Curzon, Persia and the Persian Question, vol. ii . 283—303 (London, 1892); Sir H . Layard, Early Adventures in Persia (London, 1894) . (A .