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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' [‎188v] (381/500)

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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174
[App. 8.
at a low level, unless the wind is filtered through camel thorn {khar) bushes
kept wet—an arrangement called a khar khana, literally a place for that is
worked in all respects like a khas khas tattie. Two rooms should not be connected
to the same badgir ; the sound travels through the openings in the walls and
destroys the privacy of the rooms.
There are photographs of the Consulate^ and the Bank Buildings. No
copies of the plans were kept; the original drawings of the Bank buildings are in
possession of the Bank; but Mistri Ganga Singh has a photograph of the plan of
the Bank Manager’s house, which has more rooms than the Assistant Manager’s
house. A large number of ancient buildings were measured and drawn by Babu
Ghulam Kadir; these (filed among the. plans) will give the sizes of rooms and
dimensions of walls which can be easily built in Seistan.
The interesting and useful experience gained in building these houses for
the Bank has been collected in notes by Lala Thakur Dass and Zilladar Amir
Singh which may now be given.
Steel Beams*
The beams where designed to be not more than 16 feet long or two Indian
maunds in weight; but experience proved that beams 20 feet long and 2’5 to
three Indian maunds in weight could have been brought out on camels.
The only real difficulty in the carriage of beams was from Quetta to
Nushki, and then only on the short section of the road from Kishingi to Nushki,
because the road is carried close to the hill-side at many places. At these places
the loads had to be altered, so that the beams lie along the camels back instead
of across. Eight men had to walk with each camel to manipulate the beam at
bad places, so that a long time was occupied in working the kafila A train of travellers; a caravan; or any large party of travellers. over that
section of the road. The kafila A train of travellers; a caravan; or any large party of travellers. took 24 days from Quetta to Nushki and 42 days
from Nushki to Seistan or 66 days in all, and arrived in Seistan about the end
of August.f The railway has now been extended past this Ghat Section to
Nushki; the road and the grazing from Nushki to Seistdn is good, so that in
future l there should be much less difficulty in getting out these loads. Bags
of grass or bhusa wffiere placed on either side of the camel saddles and the beams
were loaded cross-ways.
Some particularly big camels carried 4 of the 16' steel beams a load of 8
or 9 maunds. Many camels carried 6 beams 8 feet long, weighing nearly 7
Indian maunds, while a smaller camel was loaded with four such beams weighing
about 4J Indian maunds. A large camel carried 4 sleepers io' long and a small
camel tw T o. The rate paid for all the material carried whether beams, wood work
or stores was 4 pies per maund per mile. The distance is 600 miles. The
general average of the loads the mistri said was 5 maunds a camel, so that each
camel earned Rs. 62^ on the journey which lasted a little over two months. The
rate per maund was 12J rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. , so that the cost of the carriage of the steel
beams was more than twice its value at Quetta; the proportionate enhancement
of value of timber work was even greater. Now that the railway has reached
Nushki the rate, as well as the distance, will be less, as Nushki is a much more
popular place with camel-owners than Quetta; there is more grazing and the too
miles of difficult road through the passes is avoided.
The work at the Bank was pushed on through the winter, when days are
The cost of the work at the Bank. short an d cold and the cost of work was
no doubt much enhanced thereby, as the
Seistdni works better when the weather is pleasant. The gangs employed were
* During 1903 steel beams 16 feet long, g^inches deep and 4inches broad, weighing four maunds each, had been brought
out to rest-houses on the trade Route.
t The caravan travelled along the trade route in kafila A train of travellers; a caravan; or any large party of travellers. ol 300 camels and experienced no difficulty for grazing or
for water.
+ Since the above was written the following notice in the Public Press has been issued by the political officer in charge
° clNi° Ute .’u , b , e . see ? t ^ at . t he rates of carriage to Meshed are now less than they were in 1904 to Seistan.
Now that the Ouetta-Nushki radway is open for traffic, merchandise for Seistan and Persia can be booked from
any part ot India direct to Nushki, where arrangements have been made for the supply of camel transport for the onward
journey. Nushki is 9/ m.les nearer to Se.stdn than Quetta. The rate of camel hire from Nushki to Meshed is Rs. 9-6
per maund and to Seistan Rs. 4 per maund, the former rate being equal to that obtaining on the Bandar Abbas-Meshed
’’TV Tbe f ca "^ se , r , V ! Ce between Nushki and Seistan and Meshed has also been accelerated. The political officer in charge
of the route at Nushki will furnish full information on application.

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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.

Written in
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' [‎188v] (381/500), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/256, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100040681826.0x0000b6> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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