Page 391 - PERSIAN 8 1912_1920_Neat

FOR THE YEAR 1015. 37
poisonous intriguer ”—was finally selectod, chiefly in deference to the Shaikh
of Mohammorah's faith in his friendship. If Mujahid has proved at times
“difficile” on the other hand, it is doubtful whether Amir Jang would have
been much better, as wc havo reliable information that ho went over to the
German cause.
Owing to our having no representative with the Bakhtiari Khans we were
the prey of a succession oi alarmist rumours which, although primdjacie were
exaggerated and improbable, yet were embarrassing, as wo had no satisfactory
means of cheeking them. This state of affairs was aggravated when the
Consul-General and the European community evacuated Ispahan and came
down to flaseri. In this way, the rumour of a Kuhgclu attack on the fields,,
a Kubgolu movement towards Bushire, German officers drilling Bakhtiari sowars,
tho advance of a party of Mujahidin down the Lynch road, nil had their turn*
In the month of December, it was decided to send Dr. Young up to see the
Khans. His visit to them resulted in a clearing up of the situation and the
signing of a further agreement which covered more ground than that of
last May.
In the early spring the Wali of Pusht-i-Kuh moved down a considerable
force to the right hank of the Karkeh
Laritt&n sad Futbt-i-Kuli.
opposite Shush. His attitude was ambi­
guous. Wc know that the Turks and Gormans made him many promises to
obtain his co-operation. Ghulam Iteza Khan is however well known for vaccil-
lation and it is probable that lie had no intention of helping the Turks unless
things wore going very much against us. As spring drew to a close, he and
his following moved back into the hills.
Comm unication was entirely cut off from Luristan and no letters or
reports were received from our Agent at Burujird. There is therefore little autho­
ritative news of internal politics of this region However, we knew that in
the early summer, the Gendarmerie suffered a veiy severe defeat at the hands-
of the confederacy of all the Luristan tribes. The proofs of this were to be
seen in the large number of Gendarmerie rifles and ponies in the possession
of the tribes round Dizful. Nizam-us-Sultaneh is said to have pressed his.
friend the Wali to punish the tribes responsible for the attack on the Gendar­
merie, but the Wali as usual, not wishing to take any definite line, advised the
Ilyat to move down to the low country. They took the advice and appeared
in the neighbourhood of Dizful as early as September. His Britannic Majesty's
Vice-Consul came in contact with the Sagwand in the autumn and endeavoured
to establish friendly relations with a view to opening the caravan road to
Amara and using the tribe to raid the Bakhtiari in case the latter turned
against us. He however early came to the same conclusion in regard to their
general unreliability and untrusfcworthiness as that arrived at by all British
officers who have had much to do with them.
The disturbances round Ahwaz led to the pipe line being breached and
fired, on the 6th February 1915. On tho
Anglo-Pertiu Oil Companj.
5th May 1915, the firefc repair party
ventured out and by the 9th June 1915, pumping was again renewed. During
this period, the settlement at the oil-fields was cut off, but communication
was maintained by telegraph from Shushter and by a fairly regular service of
runners who succeeded in getting through the Bawi country at night.
In addition to the damago to some 50 miles of pipe and 15 miles of tele­
phone wire, the Company’s sheds at Mulla Tliani were burnt down and much
valuable property in the way of tents, carts, mules, was looted or destroyed.
The work of laying the new 10" pipe line has, of course, been muoh
hampered. Normally, tho section between the head of the 8" line at Wais
and the fields should have been completed by October 1915, but owing to the
requisition of river transport for tho use of the Army, it was found impossible
to get up sufficient pipe from Mohammorah to keep the line staff fully em­
ployed, with the result that, by the end of tho year, only 28 miles of the Waia
fields section was finished, and 5 miles of tho remaining seotipn to Abadan
as well as a good deal of useful preliminary work. The chief effort is bein«
concentrated on tho section Wais to fields as, once the 10* and 8* nine
tv/tl $inC<1'the prC8Cnfc monthlJ through-put of 8 M. Q. will he increased