Page 623 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911

POLITICAL RESIDENCY FOR 1911. 23
left for Shiraz on November 2nd. arriving without incident at their destination
on the 12th and ISth. An endeavour was made by the Mullahs of Bushire to
work up a boycott and opposition to their landing, and the Governor for
some time was not very helpful. Eventually he received peremptory orders
from Tehran to co-operate, and all opposition then ceased.
Effective arrangements for supplies had been made by Mr. BL G. Chick
as far as Kazerun and from that point to Shiraz by Lieutenant A. T. Wilson,
each officer accompanying .the party along the section of the road for which
he was responsible.
The third and fourth 6Quadrons disembarked on the 11th and one full
squadron left fop Shiraz on the 16th, accompanied again by Mr. H. G. Chick,
Commercial Adviser to the Resident, and by Mr. Worrall as far as Kazerun.
The former went the whole way to Shiraz, the Foreign Office having sanc­
tioned his deputation with a view to prosecuting commercial enquiries.
Ghazanfar-es-Sultaneh. Khan of Borasiun, had been endeavouring for
6ome time to engineer a combination of local interests to oppose the passage
of our troops, whose refusal to permit the local road guards to levy rahdari
from their caravan had aroused considerable resentment. This was fanned
by inflammatory telegrams from Nejef and elsewhere, but fortunately Ghazan-
far’s schemes did not materialize, and the second party arrived at Shiraz
without incident, on November 27tin
In the meanwhile no time had been lost in despatching from Shiraz the
squadron destined for Ispahan, which left Shiraz on 18th November, accom­
panied by an additional 100 men, from the Shiraz squadron, who had pro­
ceeded as far as Abadeh. in order to escort from thence to Shiraz Miss Ross
whose vicissitudes have been reported above. Arrangements had been'made
for supplies along the Shiraz-lspahan road as far as Yazdikhast with the
assistance of the local staff of the Indo-European Telegraph Department
(who here as well as on the Bu shire-Shiraz road were of the greatest service to
the troops), by Lieutenant Wilson who accompanied the squadron to Ispahan,
returning eventually to the Gulf via the Bakhtiari road.
Miss Ross’s escort returned from Abadeh to Shiraz without incident,
on the 5th December, and the Ispahan squadron arrived at its destination
the same day, though not without encountering robbers, near the Ispahan
boundary beyond Yazdikhast, with the result that Rissaldar-Major Ghulain
Muhammad was severely wounded in the leg, whilst two robbers were reported
also to have received wounds.
A party of 30 men of the 79th Carnatic Infantry, who left Shiraz on
the 18th November for Bushire, accompanied as far as Kazerun by Mr. J. C.
Smith, Assistant Superintendent, Indo-European Telegraph Department,
arrived without mishap, on November 2Sth; but a caravan, with whom were
two Japanese merchants, was attacked and robbed a short distance in front of
them between Khaneh Zinian and Dashtarjin.
A third and last detachment of 50 men left Bushire for Shiraz, on De­
cember 19th, with Mr. Acting Consul
Attack on Mr. Acting Consul Smart.
Smart, who was rejoining his post, from
leave; a large caravan of specie for the Imperial Bank of Persia at Shiraz
being permitted, after reference to Foreign Office, to accompany them. A
party of the same size simultaneously left Shiraz, in order to join hands at
Kazerun, the Bushire party returning to the coast, and the Shiraz party
escorting Mr. Smart to his destination. On the 24th December, the Shiraz
detachment was treacherously fired upon on the Kutal-i-Dukhtar Pass and
one sowar was killed; this outrage was organised by the Deputy Governor of
Kazerun, Muhammad Ali Khan, of the Kashkuli section of the Kashgai;
Colonel Douglas at once despatched a second party of 50 men to hold the top
of the passes for the return journey to Shiraz. ^
On the 2Gth December, the party from Shiraz under Major Birdwood
left Kazerun in order to join up with Mr. Smart’s party which was due to
arrive that day from the Bushire direction; they effected xa junction in due
course without mishap, and were returning to Kazerun together when ther
were treacherously fired on. from a caravanserai. This was the signal for 1