Page 301 - PERSIAN 4 1890_1899

maskat political agency toil the year 1895-90. 7
residency and

i q hut it gradually became apparent that the cause of the malcontent*
clear ori tj10 j[j[amai Bashi, who had been allowed to draw into hia
paincu gr ajto^cljlcr too many functions and too mucli power, and who had

f rtni"bt boforo the Vernal equinox from which all changes and new appoint-
2 ts in Persia date. Temporary and imperfect arrangements for the divided
,nCIt *ol of public alfairs were somewhat tardily made, but these nevertheless
owin'* to the fact that the popular party was in the ascendant, sufficed to
maintain order.
Haji Mirza Abdullah Khan, who had long been Karguzar, and had also
latterly held the Deputy Governorship of Bushire, died in June 1895.
During the year under report Shiraz has not been exempt from the evils
from which it has suffered in late years—the results both of natural causes and
maladministration. The oft repeated tale has continued throughout the year
of disorder, plunder, and the laying waste of cultivation by various sections of
the nomads; of general lawlessness, rcsistence to authority, and risings against
petty local Governors; of attacks by one tribe on another, and of panitive
expeditions or raids directed by the authorities to recover revenue or to coerce
the refractory. The Kushkais generally and the Yekdar section of that tribe in
particular were prominent in disorder. In October an arrangement, in the
usual spirit of Persian dealings with the nomads, was reported to have been
arrived at with the lawless tribe, and appears to have taken the form of a com­
promise of the terms of revenue to be paid, and the presentation of a khillat.
The Baharloos also have been very turbulent. An expedition for the
arrest of one of the leaders was sent under the conduct of another chief of the
same tribe in May ; there was a collision between the parties, and immediately
afterwards it was reported that orders from the Central Government for assur­
ances of safety to the leader whom it was sought to arrest had been received.
A little later the leader of the arresting expedition himself fled, and, assuming
open hostility, took to pillage and violence.
An example of the lengths to which, under the method of the Govern­
ment, arbitrary violence under the guise of authority can proceed, appears in
the measures for the arrest of an offender of the Soorkhi tribe. The Command­
er of the Governor’s bodyguard being sent on this duty was reported to have
attacked the people of the tribe, and indiscriminately plundered their property
to a very large amount, thus driving them into outlawry.
A case of oppression of a Russian (Shirwani) subject called forth a most
vigorous remonstrance from that Government, with the result that the Ferrash
Bashi who had seized aud beaten him in enforcing a demand for taxes was
sent with the usual apparatus to the house of the victim, and only escaped
severe public punishment by the grace of the outraged party on ’an ample
apology being made by two high officials.
Some insecurity prevailed on the road near Shiraz and towards Ispahan.
Iipcour*er with legation despatches for Bushire was shot by robbers;
Tinr l * rc(;overe(l- The Persian post was three times attacked towards Ispahan,
l° amount being plundered, and the posthorses were carried

ami J00*}8*8 aPPeared in spring and complaints of their
ravages near Shiraz
in other parts of the province continued till July.
^ercnot fjSt,fCts in the Governorship of Bushire and the Gulf ports
charge nf dis0rder- In Dashtistan an attempt to transfer the sole
by the nti, racA , ° °?e of the two chiefs who had hitherto shared it, was resisted
tion ^hmed Khan, who shot his rival dead. A punitive expedi-
with asm-ill 0r®?mscd, under instructions from the capital, a detachment
°f the nemilrfoJn! sent out- Ahmed Khan being joined bv some
till a small J? ;anSlstan and Shabankara was able to maintain bis resistance,
effect an niS!i°rCem^nt was ^patched, and at the same time, orders to
able settlement. lie was then induced to present himself at