From the Indus to the Tigris

by H. W. Bellew

About noon, a caravan from Khánakín had arrived here, escorted by a party of horsemen. They camped on the river bank alongside of ourselves, and from them our people heard all sorts of exaggerated reports as to the dangers of the road. But it was true they had been attacked yesterday beyond Casri Shirin, and a string of camels cut off from the káfila by these Khaleva rebels. I determined, however, to abide by the commandant’s promise, and gave the order to march at daylight.

27th June.—Pul Zuháb to Casri Shirin, twenty-four miles. At three A.M. our camp was struck and all ready to start, but no sign of the escort appeared. I sent Shukrullah Beg over to the commandant to say I was ready, but he returned presently with a reply from some subordinate that he was asleep. I waited till four A.M., and then moved off, sending a Persian sarbáz, of whom six or seven had been standing sentry over our camp during the night, to inform the commandant that I was going on slowly, and the escort could follow.

We went west by north across the valley, passing en route the village plundered by the rebels yesterday, up to some low hill ridges. Here we were overtaken by a party of horsemen under Karím Khán. He galloped up, saluted in military fashion, and said the commandant was following with the infantry, and that we had better wait his arrival here. We dismounted, halted the baggage, and I gave the cavalry leader a cheroot to while away the time, whilst we watched the infantry coming along the plain. They were a very ragged-looking set, armed with long rifles, fired from a forked rest attached by a hinge to the barrel, and just like those used by Afghan mountaineers. They came along at a good pace, with no attempt at formation, but with a light springy step and very merry tempers. As they approached, the commandant urged his horse up the slope, and saluting as his brother had done, laughingly observed that my punctuality had roused him an hour sooner than he intended. A preferred cheroot, however, turned the current of his thoughts from his curtailed slumbers, and remounting, we proceeded in the best of humours.

Our route led for twenty miles across a rough uninhabited country, traversed in all directions by low ridgy banks, here and there rising to the proportions of hillocks. The infantry trotted along on each side of our baggage; and the cavalry, from front and rear, sent out parties to the heights on either side to reconnoitre the country. At about seventeen miles we came to a great wall, built across the outlet of a small hollow. The stones were of large size, like those of the Pyramids. This structure, we were told, was originally an aqueduct from the river Alwand to Casri Shirin; and a little farther on we came to the river itself, a sprightly little stream, with a fringe of tall reeds on either bank. The sun was now shining hotly, and added to the thirsty sensations excited by the parched arid look of the land; so we turned aside to it to water our cattle and allow the men to slake their thirst. Frequent warnings from our escort hurried us on again; and we proceeded along the line of telegraph posts, here thrown down and the wires cut by the rebels. We passed through the ruins of a great fort and palace of very ancient date, and entered the village beyond. As we passed through these ruins, there was a commotion amongst our horsemen ahead, and several of them galloped off to the village beyond; and when we emerged from them, we found the Sarbáz-Khána or “barracks” overlooking the little town was covered with soldiers perched on the domes of its roof, eagerly scanning the country around.

Our party hastened their paces, and in a few minutes we entered Casri Shirin, or “the palace of Shirin,” named after the ruins close by, and were accommodated in an empty house adjoining a sarae, in which our cattle and followers found shelter. We had hardly settled down for the day, when a party of sarbáz brought in a villager who had been shot through the lungs above the heart not an hour before. A party of Khaleva had swept past the village just as we arrived, and drove off the cattle some villagers were tending at graze. These men, though unarmed, attempted to resist, and one of them was shot. The advance of our party had caught sight of the rebels as they went off with their booty, and hence the commotion above alluded to.

I did what I could for the poor fellow brought to me, but he was fast bleeding to death, and I told his friends that he had not many hours to live. They bore him away to his home, only a few houses off, and later on towards the evening the sounds of women wailing and beating their breasts announced that he was out of his suffering in this world. In the afternoon, Murád Ali and his brother Karím came to see me, and congratulate us on having made the journey so far in safety. The former said that had he met these people he must have fought them; and as they were much stronger than his own force in numbers, he could not have driven them off without loss. His party with us consisted of sixty horsemen, and a hundred and twenty sarbáz; whilst the rebels were reckoned at four hundred, all mounted on hardy and active Arab mares.

Before leaving, Murád Ali produced a paper for me to sign. It was written in Persian, and was to the purport that he had escorted my party in safety and comfort from Pul Zuháb to the Turkish outpost at Khánakín. I returned the paper, saying I was quite satisfied with the escort to this, and would sign it on arrival at Khánakín. He here explained that he could not enter the Turkish outpost with us, and I could not sign it on the road. To this I replied, that there could be no difficulty on that score, as I carried pen and ink with me, and would sign it on the road outside the Turkish post. He looked rather disappointed, so I told Shukrullah Beg to explain in a friendly way that I could not certify to a service as completed when it was only half accomplished.

I then presented him with a telescope, and his brother with a revolver, explaining that I should not have an opportunity on the road of offering these tokens of my thankfulness for his kindness, and also begged he would allow me to make a small present in money to each of the sarbáz who had formed our escort. This last arrangement was objected to on the score of its being contrary to custom, but the objection was readily withdrawn on my representing it as an exceptional case. They both seemed well pleased, and after arranging that we should start at midnight, took their leave, and as a last request begged that I would not move till they came for me, and I promised compliance.

28th June.—Casri Shirin to Khánakín, twenty-four miles. We were ready at the appointed hour, but our escort did not make their appearance till after one o’clock, and it was nearly two A.M. before our party was arranged in marching order and finally started. Our route at first was across a rough raviny tract along the course of the Alwand river, and then for several miles over a wild and hummocky country, which had frequently been raided by the rebels. We were hurried across this bit of the road very quickly, as it was feared the enemy might be concealed amongst the inequalities of the ground on either hand, and it was as much as our sarbáz could do to keep pace with us, though they trotted along manfully.