'Reconaissance through Baluchistan and Seistan, 1897' [‎23v] (51/120)

42
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Name of articles.
Per maund, or seer,
or No. per rupee.
Remarks.
Rs.
As.
P.
Mutton ..
0
4
0
Per seer.
Fowl ..
0
3
0
Each.
Chicken..
0
2
0
Fish
0
2
0
Per seers.
Eggs ..
• •
0
2
6
Per dozen.
Brinjal ..
0
2
0
Per seer.
Onion ..
0
2
0
Cooly hire
0
4
0
Per dav.
Mason ..
0
6
0
„ with bread once a-day.
Blacksmith
0
6
0
Per day.
Guide ..
0
6
6
Camel hire
0
9
6
Donkey hire
0
0
0
Industries The permanent village inhabitants are chiefly Bazgars (agricultural labourers), the
and trades, remainder being carpenters, weavers, dyers, potters, millers, masons, leather workers, and
musicians. The nomads are chiefly stockowners, possessing large herds of camels, sheep,
and goats. Amongst them are a class of Scyads, who, for the greater part of the year’
reside on the Helmand and Hamun banks. They live entirely on the sale of fish’
feathers, water birds, and working the ferry boats.
Professions. I met with an Afghan who had seen some hospital practice in Kabul. His success
as a surgeon, particularly in that delicate operation for extraction of stone in the bladder
surpassed all my previous experience.
The primitive method of operating I will briefly describe, viz., no earthly attempt at
antiseptic surgery, no anaesthetic, a scrotal incision with a sharp knife, the index finder
being pressed in till the foreign body was found, the small hooked (at point) horn of a
gazelle guided by the finger hooked out the stone. Ko preliminary sounding was at all
attempted. This artist was indeed proud, as well he might be, of his success, for he
showed me a couple of handful of stones of all sizes and composition. He omitted to
supply any statistics of death percentage or complications following his operations.
Imports, From what we saw there appeared to be a good deal of trade in Seistan, and there is a
andTrade P ros ™ ab ! e P™spect of a brisk increase if it be not interfered with by our northern rival,
prospects. The im i )0rts ar e English and Russian piece goods, indigo, tea (Indian), copper and
brass utensils (Indian), ware (chiefly Russian, in small quanity), leather (Russian), cast-
iron (small quantity), spices, dates in large quantities from Jalk and Bam. Slave’ oirls
from Bam (several were sold in August last, also camels), sugar (chiefly French), grain
from Afghanistan, tabacco and old clothes from Quetta.
I could get no confirmation whatever of arms being imported through the country
and reaching the frontier tribes. °
The exports are grain in large quantities (unless seen, the export of grain could
hardly be imagined, a lot comes in from the Afghanistan side, and is sold and reshipped
to Khorassan, Bam, Sarhad, Jalk and Baluchistan), hides, feathers, wool, camels and
goat’s hair, ghee.
Roads and Roads, properly so called, do not exist in Seistan, narrow well-beaten tracks alone
canals. connect one town or village with another. These are so narrow that onlv one animal or
pedestrian can traverse them.
The water I n 80 highly irrigated a country the water cuts are, as may be imagined, a regular
cuts (joos). network of intricacy. They are insecurely bridged here and there with a few tamarisk
houghs thrown across and covered with earth, but in many cases sheets of overflow
water have to be crossed, and the unwary traveller will know nothing of the traps
that lie hidden till his animal and load go souse into a canal.* One has to change
one s guide repeatedly ; local ones alone know the intricacies of these obstacles. In
outlying districts it is impossible to get guides who know the lie of the land, so one
is obliged to feel one’s way cautiously,
Transport r I he extreme difficulty of moving about in so highly irrigated a country at once
cu y * proved the necessity of forming a camel corps, which I immediately proceeded to carry
out. J
Camel
corps.
Our own camels being the worse for wear after so rapid a journey across the deserts
and also feeling the effects of Seistan climate being used to the higher altitude of
* lliere was much more flooding this year consequent on the bursting of the Band-i-Kahuk and delav
in repairing it. ' ’