'Through Persia on a side-saddle' [‎242] (281/360)

242 THROUGH PERSIA ON A SIDE-SADDLE
harangued them, promising to let bygones be bygones if
they would return to their allegiance forthwith.
After this eventful afternoon we all dined with the
Persian party in a huge tent, pitched on the bank of the
stream, on the other side of which a large space was
fenced in with palm leaves. We had an excellent
Persian dinner, our servants doing the waiting as usual,
and the Itisham-i-Vizireh made a fine speech about the
Queen, calling her the " Ruler who dwelt in the shadow of
Allah," the band playing our National Anthem in style.
After dinner we sat by the stream, dammed up to form a
cascade, watching the fish that were attracted to the
lights, and listening to the discords of the band, chiefly
composed of small boys, whose great idea was to blow
with all their might, the continuous fortissimo being
deafening at such close quarters. One of our party said
that he would like to annihilate a youth who clashed a
pair of broken cymbals with much zeal, but I felt that
if it came to that, three parts of the band, which num
bered some thirty performers, would have to be doomed,
as nearly every instrument was out of tune ! Every one^
moreover, performed on his own instrument without the
slightest relation to the others, time and tune being dis
regarded with a fine recklessness, the bandmaster, who
sat at table with us, never turning a hair at the pande
monium.
We also had 'fireworks' at this banquet, one of our
hosts striking a peculiar sort of match, which had a
rose-coloured flame, and flinging them, one after another,
into the air, much to the delight of the Persians.
On March 24th, 1896, the whole Frontier Commission
was satisfactorily finished, the treaty and maps signed, and