'Report of Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Edward Stewart, Bengal Staff Corps, on Special Duty on the Perso-Afghan Frontier.' [‎152v] (60/80)

1 • * marie to me by a British subject, a merchant in Mashad, of
Great comjdamt was macle * ^ fr(irn Mashad to Bokhara, in consequence
the interruption ofthe hade in _g g ^ RussianS) or their importation being
of the sudden levy of piobil S' tal y k at Mashad w i t h a Samarkand mnllah of
forbidden altogether I also h inhabitants of Merv who were carried off about
the race called Mervis^ that is of the ■"aut^^ ^ Bokhara This man t ld
100 years a^., when Merv wa^ ^ u y erl f orb idden, and could not be imported at
me that all English cottoi g . . t Particular sort of white muslin which is
an. At the -gent request of ^priests, a P-ticuh^s^ ^ ^ protiibitory d y
of one roubl™ being levied on each kadagh of 131 ounces Tea, which was largely
of one rouble g har . a duty 0 f t wo tengis, worth rather more than eleven-
brought trom l’Kl . _ ounces The kadag h used in weighing tea is larger
fhTthat used for musL 2 Indigo, whieh is also largely imported from India, is
charged half the duty paid upon tea. No opium is allowed to be imported into
San Turkistan, all found being destroyed on the spot. I am told the trade from
itussiai Q vprv laro-e has greatly declined in consequence of these ex-
cessiv^duties and English piece goods, which used to be forwarded from Mashad, are
now quiteshutTut of the Jarket. Specimens of the English cotton goods formerly
imported hut now prohibited, have been forwarded to Russia for the piuposes of being
imitated in the Russian cotton mills. The Samarkand mollah gave me on the whole a
very favourable account of Russian rule in Samarcand; he said the peasants paid a tax
of four tengis from a jarib of land. On the whole the agricultural classes were better
off under the Russian rule than under the Mussulman one, which I thought was a very
astonishing acknowledgment from a bigoted Muhammadan priest. He said heavier
taxes were levied from the townspeople, who under Mussulman rule paid nothing
beyond the zakat, or commercial dues of two and a half per cent., levied on all goods.
I think he must have forgotten or overlooked the multitude of exactions which are
illegally levied by the rulers in all Muhammadan countries. The mollah said he had
done the distance from Charjui to Kala Kaushid Khan in five marches, and called it
44 farsakhs. Re told me that the Governor of Samarkand, when he left, about three
months previously to my seeing him in September, was named Arandari. I cannot
think what Russian name this can mean, but these people always make a mess of all
European names; Russian names are almost worse for them than English ones. The
mollah said Arandari was a Mussulman, a Nogi Tartar by race, and that he had visited
the Amir of Bokhara, and had gone both to Charjui and Karshi. He had been
received with great honour by the Amir of Bokhara, who had given him presents of
various sorts, to the value of three lacs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees of tengis. No doubt this was a gross exaggera
tion. He said that General Ivanoff had been in Samarkand and had visited Bokhara,
where he spent three months, and had afterwards gone to Karshi and finally to Khokand.
He said that the garrison of Samarkand at the time he left was 4,000 men. Upon
my remarking that I thought this was an exaggeration, he said “ No; the butcher who
“ supplies the rations is a friend of mine, and I know that 4,000 rations of a pound
“ each of beef are supplied/’ He said he had heard that a considerable expedition had
been sent against the Dungans, though he did not know exactly who the Duncans
were, and 1 had to explain to him.
While I was in Mashad I saw a good deal of Sirdar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. Hashim Khan, the Afghan
Sardar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. who was in Kabul with General Roberts, and who it was at one time proposed
should be Amir. He married the daughter of Amir Sher Aly Khan, and the favourite
wife of the Amir, as well as his young son, Abdur Rahman* Jan, are now living with
Hashim Khan. Sardar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. Hashim Khan very favourably impressed me. I had met has
father in India previously. He complained bitterly of not being repaid the large sum
of money which he had lent General Roberts for the use of the British troops while in
Kabul. He had purchased a Persian village in the neighbourhood of Mashad and
intended to reside there. He had moved from Turbat Hidari to Mashad at the remw
of the British Agent, Mirza Abbas Khan, C.I.E. 1
I saw a great deal of Sardar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. Abdul Wahab Khan, the ablest of the sons of Sardnr
Mr Alzul Khan who is the son of Purdil Khan. Abdul Wahab Khan was Gov o
of Herat when Ayub Khan defeated us at Maiwand. I wrote an exhaustive remu t a f
the request of Her Majesty’s Minister at Tehran, on the conduct of Sardar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. Mir Afzul
Khan during the troubles in Afghanistan. 1 Alzul
r ^ was in J Ia8ha . d > M «sa Jan, the young son of Amir Yakub Khan was there
I would bring to the notice of Government that it seems to me highly desirable that
Musa Jan should join his father in India, as he is now about 13 or 14 years old and