284 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. could have been reached ; hut information of this ma- noauvre was speedily conveyed to the English officer, who thereupon made a flank march, which brought him face to face with the enemy at a place near Kumeesha. The Shuja-es-Sultaneh arranged his army in six divisions, of which two were to guard the baggage, while the remaining four were to engage the troops of the Shah. He posted his infantry behind the ruined walls of a deserted village, from which position they might aim at their opponents without being themselves exposed. But the advantage which Sir Henry Bethune possessed in artillery was sufficient to counteract the favourable disposition of the troops of Fars, and a discharge of round shot brought the mud walls down over the heads of those behind them, and killed forty or fifty men. The remaining soldiers who had been posted in this position attempted to make their escape, but were all overtaken and made prisoners. This decided the event of the contest. The horsemen of the prince did not even attempt to make a stand, and the Shuja-es-Sultaneh fled, taking with him ten thousand tomans, but leaving his camp, guns and baggage in the hands of the victors. After this engagement, Sir Henry Bethune pushed on at once to Sheeraz, the affairs of which city he found to be in the greatest confusion. The Eelkhani of the nomad tribes of Fars having been affronted and pillaged by the Firman- Firma, determined to seize the hour of his Highness's misfortune for avenging his wrongs, and at the same time performing a marked service to Maho- med Shah. He accordingly, on the approach of the king's army, possessed himself of the avenues leading to and from the city of Sheeraz, and thus prevented the
