'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎130] (165/714)

130
PERSIA
down as I rode through the gate, though how they could have
guessed my nationality when they never saw me, or have shot at
all when they were fast asleep, I did not needlessly vex them by
asking. They added that a Kussian had come to Kelat last year
and had beaten a Persian, and been beaten by them, and had then
started to come with 300 Turkomans in revenge; but that they
had marched out, and the Russian and the Turkomans had marched
back again. They also asked me if it was true that the Zil-es-
Sultan, the eldest son of the Shah, had put off the Persian
costume, donned English dress, and sailed from Bushire for
London. I interrogated them about their existence and service at
Kelat. They said that the water was very unhealthy, being im
pregnated with naphtha, and that they suffered from it. 1 They
also complained that, though they were to have been relieved in
three months, they had already been there for five, and during
that time had received no pay. I could not help feeling for the
poor wretches, who were about as like what one ordinarily asso
ciates with the idea of a soldier as a costermonger's donkey is like
the winner of the Derby.
After an hour and a half of tedious waiting, Shukurullah
returned with the news that the Khan wished me to telegraph for
Answer of l eave to the G overnor-General of Meshed, and that if
the Khan the answer was favourable I might pass through. This
was all that I desired ; so I proceeded to write a telegram to
Colonel Stewart, asking him to interview the Governor on my
behalf and to wire me a reply. There was some difficulty, how
ever, in finding any one to transcribe the message into Persian
characters. Few of the lower orders know the Persian alphabet;
if they want to write a letter they hire a scribe to do it for them.
The solitary scribe of Kelat was reported to be asleep under the
influence of opium ; but I insisted upon his being severely awak
ened, and at length he appeared, and spent exactly half an hour
in transliterating the despatch which it had taken half a minute to
compose. I now proposed to return to my camp, leaving the
Persian behind till an answer arrived from Meshed ; but Gregory
suggested, from a more profound knowledge of the national
1 The unhealthiness of Kelat is notorious, whether it be due, as is generally
supposed, to the water-supply or not. When Colonel Baker was there in 1873 he
found the population decimated by typhus, and the proportion of sick among
the garrison is invariably exorbitant.