Page 435 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911

POLITICAL RESIDENCY FOR 1009. 25
In the same way the participation of the Kashgai in the Russian robbery
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must be considered unproved, but no one doubts that the robbers, whoever
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they were, at least considered themselves safe from any retaliation trom
Sowlet, if they did not act with his knowledge.
A member for the Kashgai is now sitting in the Tehran Medjliss in the
person of Haji Muhammad Kerim Khan Kashguli, a connection and devoted
adherent of Sowlet. He told me of his intended departure and said with a
great laugh : “ They call me a representative (vakil) of the Kashgai, when
every bod v knows I am only the ofiicer (M amour) of Sowlet-ed-Dowleh. How
in the world could the Kashgai choose a vakil? "
These tribes were as usual under the control of one or other of the Kawami
brothers throughout the year, except for
Khamsoh tnbea. a short period from the end of May when
Kawam-ul-Mulk resigned all his offices in consequence of the Governor-Gen­
eral’s refusal of responsibility for sending Nasr-cd-Dowleh to Lar. Sardar
Firuz was appointed to the charge of the Khamsch, and professed to be or­
ganizing an expedition to Dehbid, with the object of coercing them. But
he did not leave Shirad, and Kawam-ul-Mulk’s relations with the tribe seem
to have continued exactly as before quite unaffected by his formal resignation.
The headmen professed entire readiness to come to Shiraz and fight the
Kashgai, and sent several bellicose messages to that effect, but when it came
to the point they made no attempt to fulfil their promises beyond collecting
round the Kawarn in a large armed camp near Sivend. This was a most un­
fortunate event for the countryside as well as for trade, as it soon became
dear that their main object was wholesale robbery, and they paid no attention
whatever to Kawam-ul-Mulk s attempts to restrain them.
At the end of August, they were raiding far and wide in Yezd and
Kerman, their depredations exceeding anything committed by them in pre­
vious years.
They also caused numerous interruptions to the telegraph line by shoot­
ing at the insulators, a nuisance which becomes every year more prevalent.
Kawam-ul-Mulk was appointed Govc-rnor-General of Kerman about
September 20th and the tribes were entrusted nominally to his son, Intizara-ul-
Mamalik, the real control of affairs being in the hands of Nasr-ed-Dowleh,
though the latter was precluded for the moment from taking an official part
in affairs by his position as Russian Consular Agent. Intizam-ul-Mamalik,
however, succeeded in enticing Jani Khan, the principal chief of the Jabbara,
the larger of the two main sub-divisions of the Arabs, into a trap and putting
him in chains. He did not however dare to detain him more than a week or
two, but the incident had a good effect, for the moment. It remains to be seen
what action Jani Khan will take during the spring migration of 1910 to re­
venge himself for this humiliation.
As will be seen from the above summary, an important feature of the
history of this year has been the conspicuous contrast between the relations
of Sowlet-ed-Dowleh to the Kashgai and the Kawamis to the Khamseh. The
former owes his position to heredity and asks nothing from Tehran but to be
left alone; while the latter are essentially townspeople, owing their position
solely to powers conferred from Tehran. Consequently, any weakening in
the Central authority is to the advantage of the former and to the disadvant­
age of the latter. On the other hand, while Sowlet has a serious rival in his
brother Zeighara, there is no serious candidate for the headship of the Arabs,
as was proved when Mansur-es-Sultaneh, who has a better claim than any one
else, made a bid for it in the spring and merely succeeded in earning the
enmity of the Kawamis without obtaining any extensive support from the
tribes.
The Boir Ahmadi section of this tribe continued their depredations
Kuhgeiu. throughout the year, growing progres-
™ThedloD thfet?Uack of, the Russian Consular caravan^lreal^mentfonS'
At the close of the year they were holding the Sine Safid Pass near Dastarjin