514 Mr. H. F. Witlierby— Ornithological 



valuable mule being taken off by a robber. He had 

 promptly picked up a large stone and, aiming at the robber, 

 had 1 lit the mule instead. But this had had the desired effect, 

 for the mule on being hit had reared up and got loose, though 

 the robber had made off before we could get out of the tent. 

 Then Hassan came to me and said, " This gun no good. I 

 had him pointed at robber and he no go off." It was re- 

 markable that both cartridges had missed fire and that they 

 alone did so only out of five or six hundred which were used 

 in all. Besides these little annoyances, almost every hour 

 of the day and night provided a different species of fly with 

 a different way of biting, and my hands became so swollen 

 that I could scarcely hold a gun, while one of my eyes was 

 completely closed. But what eventually drove us away from 

 this camp was want of food. It appeared that the chief of 

 the district had feared that he would not get reappointed by 

 the new governor of Shiraz. Accordingly he had sent all the 

 people of his village into the hills, and having placed some 

 thirty armed men in his castle, had told them to fire at anyone 

 who came near in case they should be the party of a new 

 chief. The country being thus deserted we could get no food, 

 and when our pet kid, which had cleverly balanced himself 

 on the top of a pack mule for many a day's march, had 

 been reluctantly killed and eaten, we had to leave. 



We steered southwards, and as we passed within sight of 

 the Chinar fort the chief's "tnfangchis " (literally chiefs of 

 the gun), acting strictly according to their master's orders, 

 fired at our peaceful caravan until we turned a corner and 

 were hidden from them. Although the range was fully half 

 a mile, their shooting was excellent, the bullets striking 

 within a few yards of us, and two actually passing under the 

 bellies of the mules. I may here remark that the only bad 

 treatment we received in Persia was in this district. On my 

 reporting the circumstances to Colonel Kemball he made 

 complaints to the Governor of Shiraz, but, so far as I know r , 

 the chief of Chinar has not been made to suffer. A cannon 

 which was sent to reduce his fort returned to Shiraz without 

 accomplishing anything. 



Between Chinar and Bija (see map, p. 501) we had some 



