'A Grandfather's Tale: Memoirs being mainly concerned with service in the Indian Army and the Indian Political Service in India and the Persian Gulf from 1932-1947' [‎41v] (82/118)

closed but the whole vehicle was smothered with the creatures and one could
see nothing. In addition, even before one could stop the car, was sliding
all over the place as the squashed bodies of the locusts made the road like
a skid-pan. As far as I remember in 19^5 the Desert Locust Control Service
acted up to their name and succeeded in scotching the trouble at source. The
presence in Panjgur, however, of so many extra bodies, most of whom I think
were Indian and not Baluchis or Pathans, provided me with more problems,
particularly as the head of the detachment had an exaggerated idea of his own
importance and tended to treat our local rustics with some contempt. As they
were a proud people this did not make for good public relations, tnough as far
as I recall the peace was never actually broken.
In January I had to make a sudden unscheduled visit to Pasni as three
levies out on patrol had been killed in a shooting affray near there. At
first I thought that smugglers had been involved in this but as the resul
of a detailed investigation on the spot, in which the Rissaldar--ajor
senior Levy officer) and the Sub-Assistant Surgeon helped me, I came to the
conclusion that there had been an intertribal quarral between two Baluchi
Levies and a Brahui - Levy, resulting in the deaths of all three. It was an
unpleasant business and the only incident of that kind which occurred during
my time in Mekran, although the year before I arrived,there had been some
intertribal trouble. The Mekran Levy Corps was recruited roughly 5o% from
Baluchis from the Southern part of the country and from Brahuis from the
North. The latter were tough and good soldiers but inclined to be quarrelsome.
On the whole I preferred the Baluchis who were more even-tempered and amenable.
In February 19^5 I went on a prolonged tour to the South, visiting Jiwani,
Pasni and. the Levy Forts on the Persian Border. Jane and the children came
with me and we were lucky with the weather. The family had their first
introduction to riding camels as some of the places we visited could not be
reached by car or lorry. One particular place Suntsar, was right on the
Border and even had a customs post as well as the Levy Fort. We had to cross
a river to reach it, and on this occasion the "ships of the desert” justified
their description, being belly deep in water.
On these trips I always took both a .303 and a .22 rifle with me, and
shot what I could for the pot, including black buck, bustard and partridge.
I could get no shotgun cartridges at that stage of the war, so I'm afraid I
resorted to shooting sitting birds with my . 22 , and they tasted just as good.
On one occasion I shot a small crocodile and the skin was sent up to Quetta
to be cured by a Chinese shoemaker but that was the last we saw of it as we
forgot to collect it before we went on leave to England.
In March Colonel Henry Elliot, the Chief Medical Officer in Baluchistan,
paid us a visit and I took him on tour to the coast and on our return he
spent two days with us in Panjgur before going back to Quetta. He seemed to
enjoy being out in the wild for a bit after spending so much of his time cooped
up in an administrative office in Quetta. We followed on March 27th and spent