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'Seistan. Irrigation report of the Perso-Afghan Arbitration Commission, 1902-1905. Volume I. Report and appendices. Simla: Government of India Foreign Department, 1906' [‎69r] (142/500)

The record is made up of 1 volume (246 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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53
Chap. IX.]
or to so dispose of the silt that it does not close or block channels so that control
of them is lost.^ This will be a work of more difficulty than the short, sharp
nature of the thick floods would lead one to suppose, because the surplus of
clear water over that required for irrigation is not very large and only lasts for
a short time. The safest method would be to concentrate the silt laden water
m one channel, so that the velocity would be sustained and the silt carried for
ward : this would not always be so difficult, as at first sight it would appear, for
the dirty floods are not always the highest, and a fairly long period of compara
tively clear snow water follows after the thick flood. Attention is drawn to Sir
William Willcock’s proposals for dealing with the thick floods of the Euphrates
and Tigris given on the last page of Appendix 4 of this Report.
But the most useful thing to do with the silt would be to spread it over the
land ] to do this the flood water would be run to escape at many points along
the river ; at each of these points there would be a drop of velocity and a deposit
of silt. To avoid this drop of velocity the size of the channel carrying the
flood must be contracted below each outlet. This could only be secured in
carefully constructed canals and distributaries specially designed on Kennedy
principles to maintain the velocity required to carry this silt. No effort should
be spared to design the channels, so that the silt is delivered to the fields, not
only would the crops be fertilised by this procedure, but the level of the country
would tend to rise above the bed of the channels* instead of the bed of the
channels above that of the country which has been the great difficulty in irrigat
ing the delta in the past.
Since a characteristic feature of a delta is the sharp ridge along which the
canal flows having great command over the land in the drains to either side,
it should be possible to flood the lands with siltf laden water, provided the fallow
lands were kept separate from those cultivated to wheat and barley. Since the
lands belong to the state, and the people are accustomed to redistribute them
among themselves each year, it should be possible to so arrange the cultivation
that it would be on a canal by alternate years : one year the canal would be used
to spread silt laden water over the lands and the next year to irrigate the crops
on these lands.
It is possible that silting basins could be made in the cultivated tract ; for
instance, in the basin between Dam-i-Kalan and Dik-i-Dalil, this basin could be
drained to the depression to the east of Sar-o-tar. There are others in the
northern delta. There are probably some depressions in the delta fed by the
Rud*i-Taraku which could be drained to the Sur Daghal or to the Chah Muham
mad Raza depression. If these were to be utilised, it would be necessary to
pass flood waters down the Rud-i-Taraku past the head of the escape to the
Gaud-i-Zireh proposed in Chapter XIII to be at Kala-i-Afzal.
It may be noticed that the thick floods come from February to April
when there is often very little demand for water for irrigation, as it is also the
season of cloud and rainfall in the country.
* The country could never of course rise above the command level of the canal.
f Sir William Willcock’s works on “ Egyptian Irrigation ” are full of detailed information as to the way silt is
added to the land in the delta of the Nile. Every generation of canal officers has urged the importance of this
subject on their successors; when the construction of great irrigation works ceases to absorb so much of the
energies of the best thinkers, far reaching advances will be made in this branch of irrigation science.
S644FD
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Content

The first volume of reports produced by the Irrigation Officer of the Perso-Afghan Boundary Commission, Seistan [Sīstān], and submitted to the Government of India, Foreign Department.

Contents:

  • 'Chapter I. The catchment area of the Seistan Lake. The trough of the Helmand River below Kala-i-Bist.'
  • 'Chapter II. The delta of the Helmand River.'
  • 'Chapter III. The inundated area.'
  • 'Chapter IV. Canals, ancient and modern.'
  • 'Chapter V. Rainfall in the Helmand basin.'
  • 'Chapter VI. Note on the evaporation from the surface of water in Seistan.'
  • 'Chapter VII. Lines of levels, maps, surveys, etc.'
  • 'Chapter VIII. Discharge observations.'
  • 'Chapter IX. The silt carried in the water of the Helmand River.'
  • 'Chapter X. The volume available for the irrigation of the delta: the duty: the culturable area that could be brought under command.'
  • 'Chapter XI. Probable rates of work if canals are made.'
  • 'Chapter XII. Irrigation works suitable to the circumstances of the people.'
  • 'Chapter XIII. Works required to gain complete control of the river for the irrigation of the delta.'
  • 'Chapter XIV. Probable cost of, and income, and percentage of profit from the irrigation works.'
  • 'Chapter XV. Drainage scheme for the inundated area.'
  • 'Chapter XVI. Schemes for utilising some large depressions either as escape, or impounding reservoirs.'
  • 'Chapter XVII. Impounding reservoirs in the trough of the Helmand: control of the floods by works in the catchment area.'

Appendices:

  • 'Appendix 1. The Hazarajat and the country drained by the Farah Rud and Harud Rud.'
  • 'Appendix 2. The trough of the Helmand River below Kala-i-Bist.'
  • 'Appendix 3. Detailed measurements of depths of water evaporated in Seistan.'
  • 'Appendix 4. Extracts from "The Irrigation of Mesopotamia" by Sir William Willcocks, KCMG.'
  • 'Appendix 5. Comparison of rates at Quetta with these on the Chenab and Jhelum Canals.'
  • 'Appendix 6. Rates of cost and of income on the Punjab Perennial Canals.'
  • 'Appendix 7. The manufacture of lime at the Consulate, Seistan.'
  • 'Appendix 8. Details of the cost of the work on the buildings erected by the Imperial Bank.'
  • 'Appendix 9. Note on lime, bricks and stone for large works in Seistan.'
  • 'Appendix 10. Comparison of rates likely to obtain in Mesopotamia with those in Egypt by Sir William Willcocks, KCMG.'
  • 'Appendix 11. Note by W A Johns, Esq., Railway Reconnaissance Officer, on the cost of excavating in the hard Seistan clay, and driving tunnels or kariz therein.'
  • 'Appendix 12. On the cost of excavation in the culturable soil of the delta and in the hard tough alluvial of the high plateaux or dasht .'
  • 'Appendix 13. The meaning of the words clay and silt .'
  • 'Appendix 14. Dates on which the Sar-i-Shela flowed in 1903.'
  • 'Appendix 15. Expenditure incurred on the Irrigation Party.'
  • 'Appendix 16. List of maps and sections packed in a tin lined case and filed in the Foreign Office, Simla.'
Extent and format
1 volume (246 folios)
Arrangement

A synopsis of contents is found at folios 12-14.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 248; 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 file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.

The volume contains a higher than usual number of blank pages, which may have been the result of a printing error.

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English in Latin script
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'Seistan. Irrigation report of the Perso-Afghan Arbitration Commission, 1902-1905. Volume I. Report and appendices. Simla: Government of India Foreign Department, 1906' [‎69r] (142/500), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/256, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100040681825.0x00008f> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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