'Report of Khan Bahadur Maula Bakhsh, Attaché to the Agent to the Governor General of India and Her Britannic Majesty's Consul-General for Khurasan and Sistan, on His Journey from Meshed to Quetta via Turbat-i-Haidari, Kain, Sistan, Kuh-i-Malik Siah and Nushki (7th April to 28th July 1898)' [‎35r] (74/156)

ON HIS JOURNEY FROM MESHED TO QUETTA, 1898.
47
Water, good, from the inundations.
No supplies procurable.
(a) I left Bandan at half past eleven last night and slept for about three
Red between Bnndfa and D»i,tak. !', our , s an d -a-half on the road, arriving on
the bank ot the inundations at 4 p.m.
this afternoon.
We passed Bal-i-Kamab at the 8th mile and the “ Hauz,” or a reservoir,
containing rain water at the 17th mile.
The pools in the river bed at Bal-i-Kamab are now quite dry and, with
the exception of about 18 inches of water in the reservior which will be dry
in about a month, there is no water on the road between Bandan and the
inundations.
At about the 28th mile we left the road going to Bahring and turned to
the right to go towards Dashtak where the reed-rafts were for crossing the
inundations.
(b) At present all traffic goes by Dashtak, because there are no Tutis
Tufcis or reed-rafts for crossing the iuund ations in (raltS made of I’Oeds OP PUsll Called Tut
Slstai1, tied together with tamarisk twigs and
rush ropes) at Bahring. When the water between Dashtak and Atzalabad
becomes shallow, the traffic will be diverted to Bahring and the reed-rafts
transferred there.
The “ kucha ” or sunken passage through the Naizar between Bahring
and Nasrabad is deeper and is said to retain water for much longer time than
the one between Dashtak and Afzalabad.
When both the Dashtak and the Bahring kuchas are dry, all traffic goes
by Bahring. ‘
(r?) Dashtak is a settlement of Maldars (cattle owners) living in reed-huts
Da8htak near the Naizar on the western bank of
the inundations to the north-west of
Kuh-i-Khwaja.
62. Just as I arrived on the bank of the inundations, I had the satisfac-
Dismissal and departure from Sistan of Allahy&r tion of Seeing Allaliyar Khan, the objeC-
Khan Pisi.kar. tionable Pishkar of Sistan, who was
responsible for all obstructions placed in the way of Lieutenant Webb-Ware
and that of Surgeon-Major Brazier Creagh in Sistan in 1897, landing from
his reed-raft to depart from Sistan, having been dismissed from his office and
ordered to leave the country by the Hashmat-ul-Mulk. I
I am glad to find that the Hashmat-ul-Mulk has fulfilled the promise which
he gave me before my departure from Meshed.
As I could not cross the water till the next morning, I had to stop on the
bank of the inundations for the night.
Allahyar Khan having to wait for his horse and mules to come across
from Afzalabad, was unable to start off at once on his journey towards Bandan
either and had also to pass the night there.
The Dashtak settlement where reed-rafts generally stop was about a mile
off from the place where Allahyar Khan landed. I did not go there and
camped near Allahyar Khan’s tents in order to be able to secure the
good reed-rafts which had been brought by Allahyar Khan and to get an
opportunity of having a talk with him, if possible, regarding affairs in
Sistdn.
63. M. Nicholai Alexiech, who had been shooting towards Bahring, arrived
about half an hour afterwards and went on to Dashtak.
64. Allahyar Khan came to my tent in the evening and offered to be of
Allaby^r Kban’s views on the state of affairs in ^^y SClvice llO COllld to me. I invited him
Si8t£n - in, and finding that he was in very low
spirits cheered him up a little. He stayed for several hours and professed
great friendship.