"سيستان" [ظ‎‎٩‎٠] (٧٨٢/١٨٠)

He gives you the idea of a disappointed man. He has no feelings of
loyalty towards Persian rule and cannot become a British subject. He says it
was his bad luck that we abandoned Kandhar, where he would have served us
under Sir O. St. John.
The conversations of both himself and those of his attendants who were
formerly servants to Sir O. St. John about the events which occurred previous to
the battle of Maiwand were interesting.
In the evening I was surprised to receive a visit from the stationma-ter of
Multan. He was one of the party of Nawab Hussain Bakhsh. He had travelled
comfortably by the road he said and was astonished to find the Seistanis so well
disposed towards his party.
14th June .—Left Daulatabad for Sekoha, the ancient captial of Seistan,
now situated on the southern border which adjoins the unwatered tract lying
between Seistan proper and Koh-i-Malik Slab. The town is semi-deserted and
mud in decay.
On my way I visited the Nawab’s party at Husainabad. A more unsuitable
collection of people for such a journey I could not have imagined—old women,
children and men of poor physique all from the heat of Multan and all' probably
going to face a winter in Meshed. They seemed quite happy and well supplied
with everything by the Persians.
The reason which made them stay at Husainabad and not come into
Nusratabad is that there is no accommodation here, and a caravanserai is much
wanted ; second, Nusratabad is about 8 miles off the direct Meshed road in winter
and more so in summer when there is water in the Naizar; and third, the road by
Nusratabad crosses numbers of canals unbridged and deep over which the camels
cannot carry a load without danger.
When the trade by this route develops, it would be inconvenient if the
traders avoided the capital and the Consul by 8 miles, and I am considering
whether I cannot induce the Amir to bridge the canals to Nusratabad so that the
caravaans may come in here at any rate during the winter. If I could accomplish
this and get a caravanserai built somehow it would be a great convenience to the
trader.
iSthJune.— 'Leit Sikoha for Burj-i-Kohna. On my way I entered into
conversation with the villagers en route. I found that the new customs regu
lations which are to be enforced later were disturbing them a good deal. I am
not yet in a position to say what these new regulations are, but I assured them
that no taxes would be levied on them if they brought goods from India other than
the 5 per cent, ad valorem agreed to by treaty.
Of course they w T ere quite ignorant of usual customs dues and only argued
that formerly there were no taxes into Seistan and that now they would be
forgetting that Seistan formerly was not a place of egress.
If the Seistan does not get to India to fetch his indigo, I hope it will only be
a greater inducement to the Indian traders to carry their trade to Seistan.
iCth June .—Left Burj-i-Kohna for Deh Khoja Ahmad. Khoja Ahmad is
situated on the broad canal which leads the water of the Helmund from Kohak
bund to Seistan. The canal is about 50 yards wide at that place.
The day was very hot in camp.
In the evening I rode six miles to see the Bund-i-Seistan. The account
given of this bund in General Goldshmid’s narrative of Eastern Persia is very
different to what it was when 1 saw it. They describe it in February as a bund
which extended across the Helmund completely turns the entire water into the
artificial channel of the canal.
In June when I visited it the bund appeared to me to have very little effect
at all on the course of the Helmund. I saw a mass of entwined tamarisk branches
apparently on the level of the low banks and extending only as far as the water