of the Shah’s orders, and after some contentious talk, he held out the royal firman for him or any of those with him to read.  On one of the elders moving forward to take the paper, Jehan Shah suddenly motioned them all back with his hands, and the Prince, taking alarm at this appearance of a signal, called out to his guards to seize Jehan Shah.  There was a shout and a rush, and some of Jehan Shah’s men from behind fired over the heads of the soldiers, who, however, returned the fire point-blank, killing and wounding several of the Shahsevends.  The tribesmen then opened fire in earnest, and the Prince with his troops promptly fled.  All ran and rode for their lives, pursued by the furious enemy.  Some of the servants kept with their master, and remounted him twice when the horses he rode were wounded and disabled.  The tribesmen are said to have made him a special target, for he was most conspicuous in rich dress, and a third time he and his horse were rolled over together, he receiving two bullet-wounds.  He was then seized, partially stripped, and treated with great indignity.  The pursuit was kept up to his camp, which was captured and plundered; thirty-five of his men were killed, and fifty wounded.  One of the Prince’s officials, also wounded, was taken with him, and both were kept prisoners for three days.

[Illustration:  PERSIAN TURK OF THE MILITARY TRIBES]

In the meantime Jehan Shah, having recovered from his mad fury, trembled at the recollection of his crime, and dreading the vengeance which he saw was certain to follow, he packed up his valuables and fled with a few followers to the Caspian coast.  He had the intention to escape by steamer to Baku, but failing in this, owing to all communication with Russian territory having been suspended during the outbreak of cholera then prevailing, he determined to make his way by land across the Northern frontier.  Being closely pursued by a party of Persian cavalry, he abandoned all his baggage, and with great difficulty reached Tabriz, where he was constrained to take sanctuary in the house of the chief Moulla.  He died there after enduring existence for about six months under circumstances and with surroundings which must have been supremely hateful to him.  I was at Tabriz in the end of 1892, while he was there, and I was told by one who had seen him that he was a sad sight then, the hereditary head of the Afshar Shahsevends, a section of a royal tribe, herding in misery with a crowd of criminals seeking sanctuary in order to avoid the avenger of blood.  On the first news of the occurrence the Shah ordered the immediate mobilization of the infantry regiments of Khamseh and Kasvin, and this had the effect of dispersing the tribe, facilitating the work of retribution, and establishing the power of the new chief.  This incident had the best political result in aiding the Kajar policy of breaking up the ruling families and the cohesion of the dangerous tribes, and asserting fully the authority of the Tehran