File 2297/1919 ‘Persian Gulf Residency Monthly Reports. 1912-20.’ [‎407r] (818/1044)

under Major Brandel of the Swedish Gendarmerie bringing arms, ammunition, and
two maxim guns from Bushire, and secondly, to set in train the organisation which
will enable punitive measures to be undertaken later on against Muhammad Ali
Khan. He left Kazerun on the 30th December and arrived at Borasjun on the 4th
January.
(Note. Bushire :—For further movements of the Darya Begi please see
paragraph 46 (d) under Bushire.)
51. (a) No robberies were reported on the Bushire road during the second week State of the roads -
of December, but pilfering had continued. The only considerable loss was
that suffered by His Majesty's Consul who had 2,000 shot cartridges taken from a
caravan by the headman of Konar Takhteh. Caravans were passing on both the
north and south roads, but heavy rahdari (illegal tax) continued to be levied |
between Kazerun and Borasjun.
(b) During the latter part of December^ two robberies were reported, one near
Dehbid where a small caravan of eight donkeys was carried off by Surmakhis, and
one on the Dasht-i-Barm (between Kazerun and Mian Kotal) where a large caravan
was attacked by Farsi Madanis, but was rescued (all but a few loads) by gendarmes
and road-guards. The gendarmes are said to have behaved well, and to have killed
two of the robbers, and the Persian officer in charge of them had his horse shot
dead. The local tofangchis also behaved very pluckily.
(c) Muhammad Ah Khan has been, in the meanwhile, again on the war-path in
the neighbourhood of Shahpur. He has captured the walled village of Tul Kuhak
between Shahpur and Bahdar, killing, it is said, some 15 or 20 men in the fighting,
and losing 2 or 3 of his own side. For some days the road was stopped by his men,
but it is now open again and caravans are passing, although, as usual, heavy road
dues are being exacted at Bahdar and elsewhere.
(d) In the beginning of January no fresh robberies were reported, and
caravans were passing on both the north and south roads.
52 . Major Brandel is still at Bushire where he is trying to enlist recruits. Major Gendarmerie.
Seifvert has informed His Majesty's Consul that, on arrival at Bushire, Major
Brandel found that the Governor in spite of his assurances to the contrary, had
not arranged for the production of a single recruit for the Gendarmerie. (Note.—■
Bushire. —This is quite contrary to the facts. The Governor had 80 men collected
for approval on a retaining fee and 56 or 57 were retained by Major Brandel
after inspection.) As it will take Major Brandel some time to collect and drill
the men he'requires (about 200) Major Seifvert is of opinion that he will not be
able to leave Bushire for at least a month.
53. On 23rd December the Kawam-ul-Mulk called on HK Majesty's Miscellaneous.
Consul. He has recently returned from a tour among the Arabs in Sarbistan. The
object of his expedition was to endeavour to secure some formal expression of alle
giance from the Chiefs of the Khamseh tribes ; to patch up a reconciliation between
the Shehbani Arabs and his son, the Nasr-ed-Dowleh (who last spring shot one of
the Shehbani Chiefs in cold blood) ; and incidentally to collect some outstanding
revenue and other claims. He claims on the whole to have been successful in these
objects. All the various Khamseh Chiefs, with the exception of the Baharloos,
have signed a formal declaration of allegiance to the Kawam ul-Mulk, and have
paid their homage ; the Nasr-ed-Dowleh-Shehbani affair has, ostensibly at any
rate, been settled ; and a certain amount of money has been collected. On the
surface, therefore, the results of his tour would appear satisfactory enough. But
His Majesty’s Consul hears from many different sources that this appearance of
good-will and fealty is not to be trusted, and that the Kawam-ul-Mulk’s influence
amongst the tribes is now-a-days far more illusory than real. The disintegration
of all tribal authority has been proceeding at a very rapid rate during the last few
years, and the Kawam-ul-Mulk is merely involved in the natural and inevitable
decay of a species of feudal system which is incompatible with modern iaeas and
principles of administration. In so far as this general state of affairs is concerned,
the Kawam-ul-Mulk cannot personally be held to blame, but when we come to
examine the details of his conduct during recent years, I do not think that his most
fervent admirer can absolve him from all responsibility for the decline of his own
influence amongst the tribes, and for the lamentable disorders which have arisen m
this Province.