Yet in truth (in the words of Dr. Macdowell of the American Hospital at Urmi) the newcomers "behaved much better than anyone could reasonably expect." They certainly plundered at first--not, indeed, in the district of Salmas where the Patriarch had settled himself, but in the neighbourhood of Urmi where there was no controlling hand. But it is certain also that the Persians who complained of them had themselves been asking for trouble rather importunately. Starving men with arms in their hands are apt to grow rather restive when they find conspicuously hard bargains being driven at their expense; and, having just saved their bare lives by means of their trusty weapons, they are mighty suspicious of invitations to surrender those weapons in exchange for a little food. Moreover, they had uglier treatment to complain of. Ijlal el Mulk, the Persian Governor of Urmi, came suddenly upon a party of Assyrians as he turned the sharp, rocky point at the northern end of the lake which is known as "Snatch-beard Corner," and promptly loosed his guards upon them in sheer panic terror, under the crazy delusion that they were an ambuscade. But even events like these were presently smoothed over; and, as there were plenty of deserted villages in the districts of Urmi and Salmas, the Assyrians found little difficulty in gradually suiting themselves with new homes. Meanwhile they were not quite oblivious of the fact that "there was still a war on." Now, for the first time, they began to get adequately armed with modern rifles and ammunition from the Russian arsenals. And perhaps it deserves to be recorded that they took extremely kindly to bombing. Bombs made such noble detonations when used liberally in echoing ravines. Surma, the Patriarch's sister (as the only non-combatant who carried sufficient authority), was installed in charge of the ammunition depot; and, after living for months in a house crammed to the doors with high explosives, was amused to overhear a couple of her reckless tribesmen lamenting her pitiable "nervousness," because she had sternly prohibited their smoking when they came to fetch powder from the magazine.