'MILITARY REPORT ON PERSIA' [‎34v] (73/466)

42
Eastern
frontier.
crest of the mountains overlooking the Russian ports in Talish
on the Caspian, to which sea it descends at Astara. > hus tar
the boundary is the result of the Treaty of Turkmanchai 1828..
It follows thence the southern coast line of the Caspian to Hasan
Quiz Bay. From here the Russian maps do not altogether con
form with the British, though the boundary was fixed in 1881 by
a Russo-Persian Treaty. It should be the course of the Atrak as
far as Chat, where it leaves the river, and passes obliquely west
of the Sumbar to a point within 15 miles of Kizil Arvat, and then
turns towards the Tekke range to Darrell Gaz, passing on to the
Tejen at the great Persian fortress of Sarakhs ; a total distance
of about 1,300 miles.
The eastern frontier is from Sarakhs to the centre of Gwatar
Bay on the Arabian Sea, some 950 miles. From Sarakhs it fol
lows the Teien river to Zulfikar where Russian, Persian and
Afghan territories meet. South of Hashtadan is a dispute!
tract which was settled by General MacLean in 1891, but is stilt
not properly defined. The general direction is somewhat as
follows. Conforming to the Hari Rud as far as near Ivuhsan, it
runs almost due south to the northern boundary of Sistan.
Thence after following the Helmand to the Band-i-Sistan it
takes a south-west direction to Kuh-i-Malik Siah, where British
Afghan and Persian territories meet.
The boundary between Persian Sistan and Afghanistan was
fixed by Sir F. Goldsmid and a British commission in 1872,
and ao-ain in 1902-05 by an arbitration commission under
Colonel McMahon, fresh disputes having arisen owing to the
H'elmand altering its course.
In 1896, a boundary commission under Colonel T. H. Holdich
was detailed to work in conjunction with a Persian delegate, for
the delimitation of the Perso-Baluch frontier between Kuhak and
Kuh-i-Malik Siah. The boundary was fixed from Kuhak as far
' north as Gurani, on the Talab river, on the west side of the Hl-
man-i-Mashkhil, and boundary pillars were erected. Owing to the
scarcity of water, the boundary Commissioners were unable to
proceed beyond this point. The remainder of the Perso-Baluch
border, from Guram to Kuh-i-Malik Siah, ivas only provisionally
ao-reed to by the Commissioners, on data furnished by a native
Indian surveyor and by local native inhabitants. No boundary
ctillars were erected in this section. From Kuh-i-Malik Siah, the