'Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf. Vol I. Historical. Part II. J G Lorimer. 1915' [‎2172] (689/1262)

2172
the 25th October 1870, were ; as we have seen, at Bampur. Meanwliile
the arrival at Qasrkand of the Kalat Commissioner, Faqir Muhammad,
Naib of Kaij, accompanied by Captain Harrison and Major Ross had
been announced,; and some sensation was caused by the size of the Kalat
party, whose camp contained nearly 300 persons,'—fortunately they were
not escorted, as had at one time been proposed, by a detachment of the
Sind Horse. The Persian Commissioner, though surprised, agreed to
their entering Bampur which General Goldsmid had proposed to obviate by
going to meet them ; but their presence seemed highly distasteful to the
Persian authorities and to the local tribes, and they left again after a six
swarthy, and with a sufficient knowledge of French to enable him to converse fluently
in that language, though Turkish waa his ordinary medium of, communication witli
servants. He was a man of no family or position, and owed his present appointment
to his being the nephew or cousin of Mirza Sa'id Khan, the Persian Minister for
Foreign Affairs, who at this time possessed much influence with the Shah. Mirza
Ma'sum Khan's fitness for political employ had not as yet been put to the proof: lie
had hitherto filled but very subordinate offices, and had been attached to the Persian
embassy at St. Petersburg as one of the smaller attaches, where he picked up his
knowledge of colloquial French. He had no lack of general intelligence, and was
possessed of a considerable fund of humour, which, when matters of duty were not on
the tapis, made him a very Ipleasant travelling companion. But it is nevertheless
probable that a more unfit man could not have been found for the work to be accom
plished. Being possessed of no wealth of his own, he looked upon his present
appointment as, above all, affording him the means of enriching himself by
bribes and extortion, to which ruling idea the whole of his conduct was entirely
subordinated. His want of social position, again, paralysed anything 1^
free or independent action, through fear of responsibility; and his only notion of
carrying on diplomatic work, evidently acquired in the Persian Foreign Office, found
vent in endless carefully-worded letters in which the sole object was so to distort tlie
true sense of matters as to render it no longer recognisable. In this accomplishment he
took especial pride, and showed great skill in using words which might bear two or
three meanings different to that which they naturally at first sight conveyed. He was
in utter ignorance of the nature of the work which lay before him, an ignorance
which even extended to the geographical position of the province of Sistan; bat it 1 ®
fair to say that on this point he made no profession whatever of even supeific ia
knowledge. Being a man of a singularly presuming nature, he was always striving
for a little more than he had a rightful claim to ; but the many and severe rebuffs to
which he subjected himself by this line of conduct never served to ruffle his extraordi
nary good nature. This wonderful good humour certainly stood him in good stead , 1
made him a bearable companion, even when the knowledge of his endless petty wieb '
deceits, and malversations of the truth was ranking very deeply in the mind—' aI1 ^
possibly more than once saved matters f i-om coming to a complete standstill; f 01 1
was evidently useless wasting anger upon a man who would not see or believe tjia
you were angry with him. Mirza Ma'sum Khan was, in short, a deceitful friend, ancM
tricky and untrustworthy public servant ; but he was ever and always a cheerful aI
good-humoured travelling companion."