Evening star., 1925-04-05

food Of the race-life itself.
So, seeking grass, this barbarian
horde, carrying all its worldly goods,
swept up out of the un-bake ed plains
of Arabistan toward a broad, swift
and icy river, which must be swum,
and toward week after week of strug-
giles, higher and higher, across the
grim, forbidding zacros ranges, to
come face to face with old Zardeh
Kuh, that gigantic, snow-clad mon
arch of the Persian Mountains.
Then they were to be confronted
with it's almost perpendicular snow
surface-men, women and children
as tremendous barrier between
them and the wondrous valleys of the
1sfahan Plateau beyond, green and
soft and rich with the grass of life.
Up over hill and mountain, on
through desert and forest, beaten by
storm and rain, sweating under
burning sun, shivering in glacial
snows-over thousand miles of
wilderness, the migratory tribes of
Persia, more than a million OF them,
one seventh of the people, were on
the move.
Pressing on and onto grass
At the camp of the Khans, in
Shushtar, at the end of March last
year, arrived Mrs. Marguerite Z. Har
rison, the writer, Ernest B. ("Shorty"D
Schoedsack, photographer, and l.
There was also Mustaufi, soft
speaking, soft-living, slow-moving
Persian gentleman, our host. 1t was
at his house in Shushtar, the capital
of Arabistan, that we were guests
when a striking figure, overfowing
with energy, with sparkling eyes and
cleaning white teeth, appeared be-
fore US. Five attendants followed
him.
In clear, though somewhat broken
English, he said: "I am khan of the
Bakhtiari. My uncle, the Ilkhani, has
sent me to ask you to visit him. / am
at your service"
This, then, was one of the princes
of the Bakhtiari. Fifty thousand of
his tribesmen we knew were camped
in black tents along the 200-mile
stretch of the foothills at the noun
tain range that dominated the east
ern horizon, two days ride from
Mustaufis door.
Capt. Peel, British political Off
Ger in Ahwaz, so desert miles away,
had sent the princes a message an
nouncing our visit. Rahim Khan was
the answer to Capt. Peers message
and Rahim at once became a source
of boundless delight to US. His
knowledge of English came from the
fact that he was educated in the Sy
rian Protestant College, now the
American University of Beirut, where
the curriculum apparently included
American slang.
d IDING to the camp next day under
~ the escort of Rahim, as the sun
was setting we swung around an ell
bow in the foothills and beheld a
lovely picture. Below the cliffs, where
the bank of a swift-fowing river was
golden-green, was pitched camp of
SO many-colored tents. The amber
glow lay like a shimmering veil on
the black and orange and white and
brown of them; it tinted and dyed
with its warm hue the black -cloaked
figures, the steel of the rifie-barrels
of scores of horsemen, the fiocks of
grazing sheep. All were covered with
this golden light.
Then, as darkness fell, we rode
down into the camp and halted before
g. group of three tents-a reception
tent and two sleeping tents. A camp
bed was produced from somewhere
for Mrs. Harrison. Shorty and 1
were given rugs on which to spread
our bedding-rolls.
say that his uncle. the Ilkhani (khan
of the tribes), and his cousin. the IL
begt (master of the tribes), were
coming to call on us. We remained
in our reception tent. Then in walked
the Ilkhani, a hale old mana tribal
prince who lived his life in camp
among his people.
The man who followed him was of
the new neration-looking more
like the city Persian than the chief
of wild nomads. He, Amir Jang, the
1lbegi, was short and stout His face
was round as moon. His little in
telligent black eyes snapped from be-
hind gold-rimmed glasses. He wore
&. huge solitaire diamond ring and a
gold wrist-watc
"Salam aleikum"'-"Peace be with
your said the two tribal princes
This is the greeting of all this part of
the East-of Turkey, Persia, Arabia
and the rest of Islam. "Aleikum sa-
lamt"-"With you, peace" we re-
turned.
Through Rahim, after a long ex-
change of courtesies, we told the