Up to the moment of the Turkish collapse, towards the end of October, many of the notables of Bijar were inclined to be dubious concerning our possibility of success. These cautious individuals shaped their conduct accordingly. They "hedged" very carefully, to use a sporting phrase, and, in order to avoid all risks, backed both sides. One wealthy Persian resident whom I particularly remember was lavish of lip-service. He would call round to the Mission Headquarters at least twice a week to assure us of his ever-enduring devotion, and of his hopes of success for British arms. About the same time he would be sending off a courier to the Turkish commander in our front telling him that he was his devoted servitor and that it would be a blessed day for all True Believers when the Infidel British were driven out of Persian Kurdistan. So much for Persian duplicity. Our "friend" was a confirmed "pulophile," which is an impromptu Perso-Greek expression for "money-lover," and, while awaiting {239} our military downfall, he had no conscientious objections to seeking to rob us right and left in wheat transactions. On the whole the various Kurdish chiefs kept their peace pact with the British, and for a time strove hard to walk in the path of honesty and to cease from annexing their neighbours' flocks and herds. But occasionally temptation proved too strong to be resisted, and there would come a recrudescence of pillaging and violence. The Mandumis and the Galbaghis were the chief offenders. Their subtle imagination was never at a loss for a plausible pretext to condone their lawlessness. Once, when Mandumi tribesmen attacked a British post at an outlying village called Nadari, a certain Mustafa Khan, the chief of the guilty raiders, sent a very apologetic letter pleading for forgiveness, and pointing out that the regrettable occurrence arose through a "misunderstanding" on the part of his tribesmen who possessed an inordinate love of well-conditioned sheep. Times were hard, and if the poor Kurds were not to be allowed to replenish their larders by the time-honoured method of pilfering, then, in the name of Allah, he asked, what was to become of them? This curious and essentially Kurdish plea of "extenuating circumstances" was backed up by a letter from the tribal Mujtahid, or priest, who wrote that he was a simple man of God saying his prayers regularly and knowing little of secular affairs. His tribesmen had evidently been maligned by their {240} enemies--"May the Evil One pluck their beards!" He had always exhorted his people to remain friendly with the British, and would continue to do so.