Page 343 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911

AND TIIE MASKAT POLITICAL AGENCY FOR TIIE YEAR 1908.
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Kcrbcla. He was, however, stopped at Kermanshah and is still in durance
vile at a village near.
Affrays between the various tribes were constant, the object being
generally loot, but the details would be uninteresting. Outside the city was
quite sale.
In the middle of August, the Kakawends once more crossed the Luristan
border and commenced looting on the Tehran road, accordingly, Fakhim-es-
sultaneh, son of Zahir-ul-mulk, was despatched with some 200 sowars, 400
sarbazes and some artillery to recover the lost property and punish the rob­
bers. They were supposed to act in concert with the Governor of Luristan,
who was at Burujird. The only person who arrived from the other side was
Fath-cs-sultan, better known as Nazr Ali Khan, who is the head of all the
tribes on that part of the border. Some of the stolen property, notably mules,
was recovered and a portion was sold back to the owners at profitable rates,
the remainder being divided between Nazr Ali Khan and Fakhim-es-sultaneh.
I was unable to get any satisfaction in the case of Mr. Stead, though the
American Legation were pressing hard at Tehran.
Shahzadeh Isa Mirza, the Postmaster, was dismissed and Akram-ud-
dowlch appointed in his place. His dismissal was presumably, in a great
measure, owing to my complaints regarding a lost registered parcel, but he
has since been appointed to another post, a small present at Tehran being
all that is necessary to attain such a result.
Farid-ul-mulk, the new Ivarguzar, arrived at the end of September.
On leaving Kermanshah in July I toured to Tehran via. Ilamadan and
Kasvin returning by the direct route to Ilamadan and thence by Kurdistan
to Kermanshah.
My time in Tehran was usefully employed in settling outstanding cases
and the routes I followed were carefully mapped by the surveyor. It is of
the greatest value to a Consul to have visited head-quarters, for the assistance
it gives in his work subsequently to understand the points of view of
the Legation cannot be overestimated.
I returned to Kermanshah on the 28th September to find Zahir-ul-mulk
once more Governor. He had originally paid 25,000 tomans for the appoint­
ment besides a further 5,000 tomans later, being 30,000 tomans in all.
His son and grandson had obtained the post for him by visiting Tehran
and urging his loyalty to the Shah—the payments made adding cogent
reasoning.
Zahir-ul-mulk, however, agreed not only to collect the year’s revenue
but the outstandings of last year, which was a task impossible for him,
and he would have undoubtedly lost over the appointment, if he had
not been extraordinarily fortunate m the way that things fell out as described
later.
In the middle of October we were informed of the Shah’s intention to
call a new Majlis in November. The announcement was not, however, received
with the interest it deserved, chiefly because no one believed that His
Imperial Majesty would do anything which he was not forced to do and
thus attention was mostly directed to Tabriz.
At the end of October, the bickering of the tribes which had continued
half the year reached a head. There had been some dissatisfaction with
Daud Khan in a section of his tribe and overtures had been made to Sartip
Muhammad Ali—till some years ago, chief of the Kalhors—with a view to
again conferring the title on him. Daud Khan had, however, collected his
sowars and, 'oeing in force, was naturally followed by the greater number of
his tribe, with the result that Mahommed Ali was obliged to escape to Pusht-i-
kuh, where the Wali entertained him and enabled him to return to Kerman­
shah.
By this time, Zargham-ud-dowlch, son of Daud Khan, had returned from
Tehran, where he had been received with great favour, though at first he
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