Page 408 - Gulf Precis (VII)_Neat

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than Sardar Husain Khan. On this occasion Din Mahomed fled the country
being accompanied by all who could possibly leave. On tho departure of
Husain Khan with his army ho appears to have returned to Dashtyari, and as
a matter of course to have been recognised as Chiof as heretofore. ' In conso-
qucncc of the Resident’s representations through tho Ambassador at Teheran,
Sardar Husain Khan as reported was imprisoned, and made doubtless to disgorge
a portion, at any rate, of his Dashtyari loot, and Sartip Ibrahim Khan removed
from tho Governorship of Bampur. During Din Mahomed’s absence, his son
I Abdullah, who has for many years been on ill forms with his father, from whom
ho received no allowance or means of subsistence, having accompanied the army
of Husain Khan into Dashtyari and pointed out those from whom it might bo
possible to wring money, was appointed by Husain Khan, Governor of Cliarbar.
On tho departure of Husain Khan aud the return of his father, lie left Cliarbar,
and his whereabouts was not known. Such family disagreements tho Persians
were not slow to take advantage of. Between Din Mahomed and Mahomed Ali,
respectively Chiefs of Dashtyari and Balm, who are first cousins, there had been
a jealousy and ill-feeling extending over many years, through which, both play
into the hanils of others, to their own weakening and ruin. Both districts were
very heavily taxed ; from Dashtyari including Cliarbar Rs. 10,000 yearly, and
fro n B.iliu its. 5,000 was demanded. In 1882 Mahomed Ali managed to scrape
together and pay Rs. 4,800 ; ho then went to Bampur to try and get the amount
reduced, but being unsuccessful, lie refused the Sardarship of Bdliu aud retired
to Gwettar. Upon which Mir Mauladad came to Balm and, having promised
Azum Khan, brother of Mahomed Ali, the Sardarship, with his help managed to
screw something out of the unforlunate inhabitants, and asked for the telegraph
subsidy which was very properly not given to him. Azum Khan accompanied
Mir Mauladad on his roturn to Kasrkand, but did not succeed in getting tho
Sardarship, and eventually returned empty-handed to Balm. Sardar Husain Khan,
however, who was Azum Khan’s uncle on his mother’s side, came to Kasrkand,
imprisoned Mir, Mauladad, took tho money ho had collected in Balm from him and
further inflicted a heavy fine, most of which was paid hy the Barr tribe, his father-
in-law, Din Mahomed* also contributed Rs. 1,000. Mahomed Ali informed
me that for the last eight months Bdliu has really been without a Sardar, that,
however, the Shazadah had now reduced the yearly taxes to Rs. 3,000 (Bahu
Rs. 1,000, Gwettar, Rs. 2,000) and conferred the Sardarship on him in writing;
and that for the year 1883-84 the Shazadah had consented to receive Rs. 1,000
in full payment of all taxes which amount he had been ordered to collect and
take to Bampur at once. Major Mockler suspected that when Mahomed Ali
could get to Bampur he would find that Gwettar was not to be included in the
Bahu district, and that the promised reduction of his taxes would turn out a
delusion. Din Mahomed laid claim to Gwettar, and Mahomed Ali asked
Major Mockler to tell the Prince that it had belonged to Bdliu for at any
rate the last 10 years, which he did, taking Mahomed Ali with him and
explaining that he did so at his request, but afterwards the Shazada sent Din
Mahomed’s son Abdi to Gwettar.
109. The heavy taxation, the want of rain during tho past three years, the
bursting of the bank of the river by which Bahu is fertilised, so that the wator
escapes into the salt desert without profit, had almost depopulated Balm, and tho
few families who remained were in a state more than bordering on famine,
Mahomed Ali stated tint if the taxes were reduced he would at once bund tho
river, and that his people would return when ho called upon them to do so.
There was then tho question of tho payment of the telegraph subsidies to these
two Chiefs, which had been raised both on the occasion of Mahomed A IPs
nominal resignation of tho Chiefdom of Bahu, and on that of Din Mahomed’s
flight before the advent of Husain Khan’s army into his country, the ephemeral
locum tenens, in caoli instance, demanding that it should bo paid to him. The
first object of these subsidies was to secure tho telegraph line from molestation,
and therefore to be paid to tho Chief whose good will was most nocessary and
efficacious. It was not known how the districts of Bdhu and Dashtyari camo
into possession of tho Jadgala, whether by deed of gift, or by purchase, but at
any rate this tract had been hereditary in the family of which Din Mahomed
and Mahomed Ali wero the heads, since their first settlement in the country
some 150 years ago, and to them the inhabitants yielded ready and unswerving
allegiance There had hardly boon a single instance of damage dono to the
telegraph line in these districts, and though no hard or fast rule for tho political