The movement of the Turkish and. Persian Kurds against
Persia is becoming serious. The leader of the Kurds (Sheikh Abdullah), who, if the tribes are as united as reported, can produce 40,000 fine horsemen, has captured Urumiyah and threatens Tabreez, proclaiming himself at the same time an independent sovereign. His men are said to have good rifles, and to slaughter out opponents with a pitilessness which spreads terror through north-west Persia. The Government of Teheran has dispatched a division of 7,000 men against Abdullah ; but the Persian Army is in such a wretched condi- tion, and the men so badly paid, that its success is extremely doubtful. A defeat would probably cause an insurrection through- out Persia, where long misgovernment and continuous famines have destroyed the very sources of power. It is quite possible that a Kurdish chief of ability, who attracted to his standard the thousands of fighting men on the borderlands of Persia and Turkey, might found a new dynasty strong enough to re- invigorate Persia, which is dying of extreme centralisation, all power being confined to the Kajar family, and of the depopula- tion produced by endless exactions.
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