'Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf. Vol I. Historical. Part II. J G Lorimer. 1915' [‎2580] (1097/1262)

2580
ghe/s
enquiry.
Impotance of
tlie Persian
authorities.
loading rifle; but up country the number of arms of precision eeemed
to be less than 30,000/the figure at which they had been estimated
by the Persian Governor of Bam pur. The weapon most prized was
the Martini-Henry rifle or carbine of English manufacture ; but the *303
carbine had begun to find favour with the well-to-do classes. The arms
carried by the poor were generally obsolete military rifles of Russian,
French and German models^ and these were sometimes obtainable at a
price so low as Rs. 12. With regard to the history and development
of the trade in Persian Makran, it was ascertained that importation
by sea had actually begun some eight years previously, but during the
first four or five years it had been conducted on a small scale only, to meet
a purely local demand. The persons engaged in it had been, and still
were, Baluchis and natives of Masqat and of Qishm, who kept small
shops at the harbours on the coast, or at central places in the interior
such as Gaih, Qasrkand, and even Dizak and Bampur. The beginnings
of an Afghan trade had first been noticed in 1903-1904 ; but in that
year only a few Afghans visited the coast, and the caravans were small.
In 1904-1905 the Afghan business became more organised, and two
large arms caravans for the far interior left Galag, while one marched
from Sadaich ; the number of arms carried north by these was esti
mated at 3,000 rifles. In 1905-1906 operations had commenced in
November and a brisk season was expected, but the advent of the
Anglo-Persian commission somewhat marred its success. In Decem
ber 1905 about 900 rifles were landed at Tank and about 400 at
Barak, all of which were brought to Karkindar in the Karwan
district ; and, at the end of March or beginning of April; two
separate consignments of 500 and 700 rifles respectively were safely
brought ashore at the mouth of the Rapch river. These consign
ments were accompanied by unusually large quantities of ammunition.
During this winter only one caravan for the north left Karwan ; it
was supposed to have conveyed away some 1,500 or 2,000 of the rifles
accumulated in the district and a corresponding amount of ammunition.
This caravan, which started early in April, was said to have consisted of
about 100 Afghans with 150 camels and to have proceeded via Raigan.
With reference to repressive measures, Captain McConaghey reported
that the agreement of 1902 between the Governor-General of Kirman
and the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. , Kalat, had been disregarded by the Persian
authorities, who, for want of material force, were in fact powerless to
enforce it : their hold upon the country was already precarious, and they
did not care to expose it to any additional strain. The local chiefs,
among whom the principal were Said Khan of Gaih and Islam K han
of Bint, were pecuniarily interested in the traffic, inasmuch as they
received from one to three dollars on each rifle in transit. In some cases
these chiefs were in rebellion against the Persian Government, in others
on bad terms with their own subjects ; and anarchy consequently
prevailed throughout the country. In such circumstances the excuse
given by local headmen for their failure to prevent the traffic, viz., tnat
the^ had not received any orders on the subject, either from the Persian
officials or from their own chiefs, was one which it was difficult to dis
pute, and one object of the Karwan agreement was to remove it for the
future. The existence at Karkindar in Karwan of a small Afghan