In Hamadan, to add to our other difficulties, we were greatly troubled with professional mendicants, whose ages varied from six to sixty, and whose energy and begging zeal were unbounded. In time we got to know them, chiefly, I think, because of their physical fitness. They were always in the pink of condition, sound in wind and limb, and could run a mile in pursuit of a likely dole without turning a hair, while their vigorous lung power would have done credit to a "cheap jack" auctioneer. I always did, and always shall, admire the wonderful patience and clemency exercised by Dunsterville when faced with the Democratic organization, which aimed at nothing short of wiping out both himself and his force in Hamadan, if not by a _tour de force_, then by starvation. They were always inciting the populace to rise and finish us. But hungry men have little stomach for blood-letting, and although those in Hamadan found it difficult enough to exist owing to the food shortage, they were in no hurry to abridge their unhappy days by flinging themselves on British bayonets. {122} The Hun or the Turk would have ended this intolerable situation long ago by decorating Hamadan lamp-posts with the dangling bodies of local Democrats; but Dunsterville was forbidden to embark upon any strong measures. Our own Minister in Teheran, Sir Charles Marling, kept warning us that we were neutrality-breakers, and wondering whether the Persian Government, even by the exercise of all his (the Minister's) diplomatic skill, could ever be induced to forgive us. Sir Charles, who has since been transferred to some other sphere of usefulness, was always quick to grasp and expound the Persian official point of view. I often wonder if he ever busied himself with attempting to understand that of the British concerning the occupation of Hamadan and Kasvin. One of the contributory causes of the Hamadan famine was the insane behaviour of the Russian Army when in occupation of the town and district. They destroyed the growing crops of wheat and barley, and wantonly wasted the grain they were unable to consume or carry off. The Hamadan harvest is not ripe for gathering until about the first week in July, so the British, in May, were faced with the problem of feeding a starving population for some sixty days. It was not incumbent upon them to do so, but both pity and policy coincided in indicating the necessity for combating the evil of food shortage that was so rapidly thinning out the population.