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‘Military report on Persia Volume I 1930’ [‎18r] (40/154)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (73 folios). It was created in 1920-1931. 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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(c) From Sarakhs via the Mazduran pass to Meshed.
This road is practicable for field artillery.
The Kalat-i-Nadiri is formed by a complete perimeter
of vertical cliffs enclosing a fertile grassy valley some 16
miles long by four wide. Jn most places the vertical scrap
is outside, and there are only a few places where active
men might scramble up.
A stream known as the Ab-i-Kalat enters by a gorge with
precipitous sides a few yards wide at Darband-i-Arghawan
and leaves by a similar gorge at Darband-i-Nafta. Both
these are fortified by walls and towers and are passable for
camels, which can enter also at the Khustani gate at the
south-east corner of Kalat-i-Nadiri. Mules can scramble
in by the Deh Chah and Giru tracks, and there are said to
be two more ways which are passable on foot.
The interior is a series of grassy meadows and about
twelve 'villages dot its slopes. This natural fortress with
its unsurmountable walls forms an outwork to the mountain
ramparts of Khurasan. Kalat-i-Nadiri is the penal settle
ment of Khurasan, to which convicts and other political
piisoners aie sent to undergo their terms of imprisonment.
The Kupeh Dagh, the ranges between Bujnurd and the
Caspian are little known, but they contain fertile valleys
which afford good pasturage.
The cliffs of the frontier barrier are vertical on the
southern side, though the approaches from that side are
gradual and comparatively easy. On the other hand the
northern slopes of the main ranges which lie to the south
of the frontier barrier are precipitous.
The ranges south of the valleys of Bujnurd, Kuchan and
Meshed, Kuh-i-Nishapur, Kuh-i-Shah Jehan, and Aleh
Dagh, form a more direct continuation of the Elburz than
does the Kupeh Dagh, though they are of less military
importance.
Their northern slopes are gradual and their southern
slopes precipitous. There are remote valleys in the folds
of the hills among which are hidden away tiny villages set
in fertile patches of cultivation surrounded by fruit trees
and poplars.
T he Kuh-i-Shah Jehan is said to be the highest peak
in Khurasan, and exceeds 10,000 feet. It has not been
surveyed. Apart from the Meshed-Turbat-i-Haidari motor

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Content

Military report on the Khurasan [Khurāsān] and Seistan [Sīstān] regions of Persia [Iran], with maps and illustrations. Produced by the General Staff, India, and published in Calcutta [Kolkata] by the Government of India Press, 1931. Marked for official use only.

The report includes chapters on:

  • a history of Khurasan and Seistan
  • the geography of Khurasan and Seistan (mountains, rivers, deserts, an alphabetical listing of towns) and climate (including assessments of the health risks associated with both regions)
  • population (religion, tribes)
  • resources (including crops, grazing, fuel, transport, and a note on horses and mules in Khurasan)
  • armed forces (including a description of the Eastern Division of the Persian military, an Order of Battle, organisation, armaments, equipment, clothing, rations, training)
  • aviation (detailing the organisation, personnel, equipment, aerodromes, etc., of the Persian Air Force)
  • administration (municipal, police, justice, department of public instruction, revenue, roads and communications, census, post and telegraphs, sanitation)
  • communications (railways, roads, types of motor transport in use, principal routes used by travellers from Meshed [Mashad] to Russian territory, telegraphs, telephones, wireless)

An appendix includes a veterinary note on conditions in Khurasan and Seistan. The volume also includes four colour plates illustrating different badges associated with Persian army and police officers, and a number of maps and diagrammatic maps.

Extent and format
1 volume (73 folios)
Arrangement

A contents page at the front of the volume (f 6) and index at the rear (ff 64-66) both reference the volume’s original printed pagination.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 75; 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.

Written in
English in Latin script
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‘Military report on Persia Volume I 1930’ [‎18r] (40/154), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/15/7, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100040937079.0x000029> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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