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'Report of Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Edward Stewart, Bengal Staff Corps, on Special Duty on the Perso-Afghan Frontier.' [‎133v] (22/80)

The record is made up of 1 file (40 folios). It was created in 8 Feb 1883. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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ymsammmmm
22
Wn trusted with much more important duties than those he was permitted to per-
been tiustea wiui () f intelicence, brave even to rashness, who had twice won
^defoTlri wEl^tats for Indian soldiers in place of the Victoria Cross who
had shown his faithfulness to the English Government during the trying times of the
mutiny and who was a fine looking specimen of the Afghan race he was wor by of
something better than the position of Subadar-Major beyond which he was not allowed
bv the rules of our service to advance. His commanding officer, in writing of him, said,
,, I f eel ae though I have lost my right hand.” Such men in the Russian service would
I mentioned, in several ot my reports, inai a iu.ge uvu, u* .
tribe had left the Tekeh country and entered Persia, and had been settled at Zurabad
and near the Kashuf Hud. Zurabad is situated a few miles from the Hari Rud, north
of Turbat Shaik Jam. In 1832, after the capture of the old town of Sarakhs by
Abbas JVlirza, a portion of the Salor Turkomans, to whom that town belonged,
i ’ rr ,.4,iv t i tlvo T’rvL'nh Tnrbnmnns in thp Mcrv nrmntrv
were settled
became powerful, they
ucuame puwc.xui, found these Salors settled in Persia a thorn in their
side, and during the period of the great Persian famine, about ten years ago, the
whole of the Salor Turkomans settled at Zurabad and in its neighbourhood were,
partly by force and partly by persuasion, moved off and settled in the Merv country,
along the Murghab river. The tribe was broken up and divided among the different
sections of the Merv Tekeh. They do not appear to have found their position
amongst the Tekeh as a subordinate tribe a very pleasant one, and in 1881, abuut
1,500 families of them came back to Persia, and the majority of them have settled
near Zurabad. Some have settled at Ak Darbund, on the Kashuf Rud, and some
within 13 miles of Turbat Shaik Jam, at a place called Nilabad. A fine fort is
being built at Zurabad by the Persians. Two companies of the Karai regiment, and
two guns, with a few artillerymen, are stationed at Zurabad to keep the Salor Turko
mans in order. A large sum of money has been granted by the Persian Government
for the construction ot this fort, and it is being built with some amount of vigour, but
the peculation which goes on in a matter of this sort is terrible. I would give as an
instance the fort at Mozdaran, on the road between Mashad and Sarakhs, which was
charged to the Persian Government as having cost 17,000 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. , while I hear on
good authority that the sum actually expended on the fort w^as only 800 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. . I
hear that the Salor Turkomans who have settled in Persian territory are not very
contented, ^ 1 he Persian Government, with its unpaid officials, who must extort
money to live, is very unfit to carry out a scheme of colonization in the fruitful but
hitherto almost uninhabited country near the Hari Rud. Besides these Turkomans
settled in the neighbourhood of Zurabad, two deserted villages in the Pusht-kKuh i
Jam plateau, cue named Khargish and the other Kummar Zird, are being reueonled’
W . lt 7 ifT nllU r S j°( t , he , sectlon of wllul1 Sart ’P Aly Murdan Khan is chief. While I was
at Mohsinabad I had some conversation with Yusuf Khan Hazara about the old canal
v hl i«m‘t! 8 f,arakhs ; a u d ln,g Ti’. u ' h the w:lt, ' 1 ' s ,,f the Tejend river were turned
in 1860 by the army ot Hamza Mirza Hushmut-ud-Dowlah. Yusuf Khan was
himself present on this occaston. He says a dam was constructed between Nauruz
abad and D.iulatahad. These places are near Sarakhs. He informed me that
the water ran out into the desert lor about 20 miles, but no effort am ears to h!l
been made to clear out the bed of the canal. He told me that -,t 4)? !^ I , have r
water was found by digging shallow wells When once ShTnn • of
n T rulin' i $ 4 *° ne Mutttb there are n °
Saidar Abdul Kudus Khan received Mirya ]VT 11 u_ ri i r,-, . & '
sent to Herat from Quetta by the Briti&h Government 'with dM ^ agent
him With civility. He also received Muhammad Sadvk/a mLhant oTmL- hid
the Russian newswnter in Herat with Prm«l ‘ ^ mtrcnam ot Mashad, who is
Afghan Government to Muhamm’ad Sad)k is very oldecthmable^T? aCe ,° r p ed b - v ' the
no reguiarly accredited Consular Aeent at Herat M ,t ! , T .“ ou S h Russia has
way as if he was one. He is received n lnffiene M ' ,h “ d Sadyk is treated in every
if he was an accredited agent He calls un >r- ^ A ^ ari Governor exactly as
debts when due to Russian subjects Karim Bel^T"^ t0 aSsi ^ him i, ‘ collecting
Mashad, wrote to him desiring him to collect thp th ! I J uss,an Consular Agent J
Akundzada Nizam-ud-Din at tlrnt t ml t vll ai “ ° f a Dote of hand giv,
Agent at
given by
ect in
debt in Herat for a'Brititrllhje^^ltlsTai^tllTMn'h T^'^han^d'olkct a
he atay not openly hold interconrseiith

About this item

Content

This file consists of a report written by Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Edward Stewart, Bengal Staff Corps, in which he describes his journeys to and around Mashad, Herat and Merv in the vicinity of the Perso-Afghan frontier, and provides detailed intelligence regarding topography, settlements, communications, vegetation and agriculture. He also describes local populations, tribes and chiefs, and their present and historical actions and allegiances.

The author records his opinion that due to a general fear of Torcoman raids, and a positive attitude towards Russia, the region of Khurasan [Khorāsān] could willingly fall under Russian sway; he therefore urges the instalment of an English officer on the Perso-Afghan frontier to maintain a British influence there.

The report is written in twelve chapters, and is followed by five appendices giving detailed descriptions of routes travelled, with mileages.

Extent and format
1 file (40 folios)
Arrangement

This file begins with a table of contents (f 123) followed by a report (ff 123-158), with five appendices at the end (ff 159-162).

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 123 and terminates at the last folio with 162, as it is part of a larger physical volume; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 123-162; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.

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English in Latin script
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'Report of Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Edward Stewart, Bengal Staff Corps, on Special Duty on the Perso-Afghan Frontier.' [‎133v] (22/80), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/18/C42, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100032562303.0x000017> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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