An Account of a Journey in Kashmir by David Lockhart Robertson Lorimer and Letters from Emily Overend Lorimer to her Parents sent from Bahrain and Kerman [‎540v] (1102/1291)

and hawed and did nothing beyfond assuring us at a moment when
a large force of Baluch were actually within 4 days’ marcg of
Kerman the ’’His Excellency was assured that all was being done
to expedite the departure of the Sardar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. Muhtasham ” — with luck
he could arrive In 5 or 6 weeks ! If there hadbeen any real
fear of an attack on the city this would have been re-assuring !
At the bottom of all this is really the fact that Lecoffre
Is intriguing all he Is worth against a Bakhtlarl Gov. and the
Swedes are doing llkewls^e. L. thinks he will be able to run
the Swedes either by guile or kindness, and the Swedes don’t
want any other "orce of any sort In the province. This would
be all right If the Gendarmes were really established and had
shown their mettle. But so far they haven’t taken a single
step towards their own Job of keeping the road to Bandar Abbas
and it Is perfectly Idiotic for them to want to make themselves
responsible for such things as Baluch raids until they have
Increaded their force and recruited more <|mn and got the whole •
body really well disciplined. If the Gov. Gen. had been
here the Baluch would easily have been frightened off — they
have scarcely the courage of a cat -- as It Is they have had a
glorious big loot and have Incidentally lifted two more of our
big caravans (with lots of our private stuff).
To do the Gendarmes Justice they proceeded at last to send a
force against them and one day de Mare went off with 130 cavalry
without a single soul who knww the country. They found a large
body of Baluch safely and happily entrenched at a walled village
of DahrzTn. Into the mud walls of this place they blazed all
their ammunition and finding themselves running short were obliged
to withdraw to Tahrud, and send a message to Kerman for re-lnforc*
cements and ammunition. Then Gllmstedt started out with
infantry and supplies (instead of starting at once on de Harems
heels) and when he arrived the Baluch had comfortably pursued’their
way over the Deh Bakrl Into the Jlruft valley where they can get
their fill of flocks and herds. The Gendarmes have lost three
or four killed and the same/wounded, and they report ICO Baluch
killed, but other reports ,r^ather more reliable,report 10.
It Is a pretty fiasco and will do the Gendarmes no good.
If they weren't going to make a success of It, It would have been
better for their prestige to have sat tight and done nothing at al
but In the circumstances I suppose they felt they had to try and m
make good their boast that they alone were sufficient to preserve
the peace of the province. It is all the more annoying since
if things had been allowed to take their course we should have had
a strong Gov. and the affair need never have happened.
What exactly the Legation Is thinking about It would be hard
to say except that they appear to have betted their bottom dollar
on Swedes (a little time ago It would have been quite possible
"or us to have established a force o£ local levies with British
officers, run on the lines of our Indian frontier levies by men
who knew something both of war and of Orientals and oriental
conditions, and one would have had twice the efficiency at half
the expense, but some of their dr.wing-room intrigues at Teheran
decreed otherwise) and to have fondly Imagined that they were