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'Report by Mr G P Tate, Extra Assistant Superintendent, Survey of India, in charge of the survey detachment with the Seistan mission, 1903-05.' [‎4v] (8/16)

The record is made up of 1 file (6 folios). It was created in 1906. 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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tr I ''
6
as they change every year according to the volume of the flood in the Helmand.
In 1903 the deepest of these channels was the easternmost which flows under
the hamlet of Malaki which stands on its banks.
The other channels are frequently so ill-defined that at periods of low river
they are quite dry and it is not at such times at all clear what is a spill water
channel or not. Again when the floods are at their highest point, the water
flows over the low and gently shelving banks forming expanses of water with
merely the tamarisk thickets appearing above the surface.
Surveys made at various times of this narrow tract would give details that
differ in every respect, and which to any one unacquainted with the country
would give an idea that the conflict of detail was due to inaccuracy on the part
of the surveyors. This however would be quite a wrong impression, and each
of the various representations of the tract would be quite correct for the period
when it was surveyed. It is necessary to emphasize this, and also to bear it in
mind when the i"=i mile surveys are finally mapped, as there is a conflict of
detail in the plane-tables of this tract. The representations of the spill water
channels made in 1903 and I9°4 almost certain to be quite wrong by this
time, as the channels themselves must have altered very materially, and
appreciably on the scale. The rest of the 1"= 1 mile scale surveys have no such
details of a conflicting nature. Slight discrepancies may have been overlooked
in comparing the common edges of adjoining plane-tables, but these are
capable of being adjusted easily ; they are also of no importance.
In the southern sheets there are innumerable sites of prehistoric settle
ments, of which of course no names can now be obtained. These occupy the
summits of mounds of various heights and are represented. These sites
ought to appear on the fair maps. They are of very great interest from an
archaeological standpoint as palaeolithic implements have been obtained from
them, accompanied by pottery. The mounds are also of very great interest
to a geologist.
Old beds or channels of the Helmand are also of very great importance.
The river is in a condition of unstable equilibrium and there are indications of
impending changes, which if they take place may revive any one of the old
beds of the Helmand and bring it into importance after the lapse of centuries.
In the £" plane-table to the east of the village of Chakansur, survey only
has extended for a distance of about 20 miles. Beyond this towards Khash,
sites marked on the plane table or on the published standard sheet are
altogether based on information. But the Koh-i-Khwaja Ata has been fixed
by plane table intersections, though not visited. It has subsequently been fixed
by triangulation, and the plane table position of this most prominent feature
in the country between Kandahar and Seistan should be corrected, if neces
sary, by the triangulated values of its co-ordinates.
Under existing conditions any further extension of survey work to the north,
west and east of Seistan as a purely survey operation is unfortunately no
longer possible. But in conjunction with political expeditions, either in
co-operation with the Consul in Seistan or of course with expeditions, missions,
etc., organised and despatched from India, a very great many opportunities for
making surveys will be available.
Any observations to the Koh-i-Khwaja, or Koh-i-Chako or the Koh-i-
Kuch would need a heliotrope at those points as they are flat-topped hills,

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Content

This file contains a report by Mr George Passman Tate, the Extra Assistant Superintendent for the Survey of India, about the Seistan [Sistan] Mission. Tate details the ways in which the fieldwork was undertaken, and difficulties that were encountered. He also provides notes on communications (roads, fords and ferries) in Sistan. On folio 10, Tate outlines technical terms which are particular to Sistan and used in surveys carried out there. Between folios 11-12, there is a list of latitudes, longitudes, and heights of trigonometrical stations and points in Sistan.

Extent and format
1 file (6 folios)
Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 8; 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.

Pagination: the volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence.

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English in Latin script
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'Report by Mr G P Tate, Extra Assistant Superintendent, Survey of India, in charge of the survey detachment with the Seistan mission, 1903-05.' [‎4v] (8/16), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/133, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100040047875.0x000009> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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