Among themselves the Afghans are quarrelsome, intriguing and distrustful; estrangements and affrays are of constant occurrence; the traveller conceals and misrepresents the time and direction of his journey.
The assertion of this claim caused frequent affrays between the customs'officers of the nawah and those traders who, whether falsely or not, represented that they were acting on behalf of the servants of the company.
The scheme, therefore, was to begin with a succession of outpost affrays along the whole line (which could be represented as a provocation suffered), and then to strike vigorous offensive blows (a) from Seres towards Salonika, (b) from Strumitsa and Radovishta against the Vardar at Krivolak and Gevgeli (Gyevgheli), (the link between the Serbian and Greek armies); and (c) a blow from the region of Kochana towards Egri Palanka.
The outpost affrays duly occurred and the real offensives were launched on June 30.
There were a growing number of bloody affrays between the local poachers and the gamekeepers, who were usually from England or Scotland.