'Report on the Preliminary Survey of the Route for the Central Persia Telegraph Line' [‎134r] (272/300)

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General Summary.
The section from Re^an to Pahra has already been disposed of in the pro
posed route for tiie Central Persia Telegraph line We must therefore skip
over this section, and again pick up the thread at Pahra, the most eastern point
reached, and deal with the journey thence to the sea-coast at Gvvadur.
Of the two routes which connect Pahra with Gw.idur, my many informants
declared that via Serbaz and Peshin to be in every way better than the more
western track via Kasr Kand. The former route was accordino-lv followed.
O %/
The first 15 miles from Pahra lead us over a barren plain, when we enter
a range of close and rugged mountains, and follow the large dry bed of a winter
torrent, with sheer and high rock on either side. Two marches are spent in these
mountains before we retch the watershed The boundary between adjacent drainage basins. at 40 miles, which is 1,800 feet.
Aitcr a short but sharp descent, we strike the bed o*' the Sar Kaur and follow
this river, which lower down is known as the Serbaz Knur, for the next
08 miles, where Rask is reached. The chain of mountains, too, may bo said
to end here, which gives us 92 miles of mountains We now go practically
due east for 28 miles along a level study valley to Peshin, which is ea^y.
.Between Peshin and the Perso-Kelat frontier at Gwar Menzil, 2 marches, we
are again among low hills, and hence to Gwadur we cross a lerel sandy
“Pat” plain. Such in a few words is the nature of the country between
Pahra and Gwadur—a difficult section on which to construct a telegraph line.
The track, a mere bridle path, is very rough in the mountains, and in one
place so narrow was it that we had to unload all our camels, and carry the boxes
for some 10 yards before we could re-load, while in another place twe camels
fell into a deep pool and partly submerged their loads. It is quite impassible
to wheels. Fallowing, as it docs, for 68 miles the bed of the Serbaz river,
which varies from 100 to 400 yards in width, this track is liable to bo blocked
for 5 or 6 days after rains. I noticed the floo 1-mark on the tamarisk trees in
the river bed showed that there must at times be a depth of 9 to 10 feet of water.
As the mountains are close, sheer and rocky on either side, and considering the
great distance for which the path lies in the river, the possibility of securing
a side route is precluded.
The water-supply for the 40 miles from Pahra to the Serbaz Kaur is very
uncertain. Serbaz, which only consists of 6 or 7 mud hovels, and a dilapi
dated mud fort, is tin 1 first village met with, and is 69 miles from Pahra, and
we could get no supplies here. Again from Peshin to Gwadur, a distance of
86 miles, the water, although plentiful when we passed owing to the recent
rains, is precarious from pools, and in a draught 1 question if any could he
obtained. There arc no villages in this distance, while we only saw some small
migratory Balooch encampments.
A reference has already been made to Sirdar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. ITo^sein Khan, whose h< ad-
quarters is Rask, but who is at present a fugitive in the neighbouring mountains.
So long as this Balooch is a renegade to his government, southern Pcrsian-
Baloochistan must remain in a disturbed state, f was rcpeater.l v asked if there
really was a Shah; also if, as we stated, we were not afraid of the hated Gajjars,
why we did not assist the Baloochees to get b tek their country. At Rask, one of
the influential men who called on me said if the English build a telegraph
line through here, there is a chance of our losing the small amount of liberty
which we now have. This was the first and only remark savouring of animosity
to the line that I had heard throughout the whoK of my journey. In fact, I
could not fail to form the idea a< I came along that southern Persian-Balooch-
istan was in a state of wretched discontent, that it would require but a very
gentle breeze to set the smouldering fire ablaze, and for the country to rise and
have one more attempt to throw off the hated Persian yoke.
Peshin, which is in Persia, has refused to pay taxes for ft years, and this
year on the Governor of Bampur’s intimating that it was his intention to per-
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