'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)' [‎39r] (82/156)

ON HIS JOURNEY PROM MESHED TO QUETTA, 1898.
55
and Kirm&n which were obtained for him by the Russian Legation at Teherdn
who also engaged and sent the Russian interpreter to accompany him in his
travels.
I doubt if all this is done by the Russian Legation at Teheran for every
Russian sportsman visiting Persia.
I may mention, however, that I have had M. Zaroudny watched carefully
in Sistan and have not found him doing any political work. He devotes all his
time and attention to zoological and geographical researches, and the fact of
his being ignorant of Persian himself and his interpreter being an unedu
cated man who, though able to carry on an ordinary conversation, does
not know Persian or Russian sufficiently well to explain or make himself
understood on any subject beyond common topics of complimentary or do
mestic discourse, would seem to show that he is not entrusted with any
political mission. Resides this I have ascertained that since he left Meshed he
has sent no letters at all anywhere.
He is, no doubt, a surveyor and perhaps a Government surveyor.
I returned Mr. Zaroudny’s visit on the 26th May.
He showed me with great pride the different specimens of birds, insects,
and reptiles that he had collected and a very good collection it was indeed.
In course of conversation he said that he was thinking of changing Mf
plans and might not go to Bam or Kirman, as he said at first. I asked him
which way he was going then. He replied that after exploring the country
between Gaud-i-Zirreh and Ladis he intended to go by Kuh-i-Taftan, Washt
and Bazin to Bampur. He added that he had not matured his plans yet as
to his travels beyond Bampur, but that he might go towards the south and
visit Charbar on the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
He returned me my Curzon’s map with his route from Meshed to Sist£n
marked on it in pencil with names of certain places that be had visited, but
said that he was sorry the map was on too small a scale to enable him to put
in all the places to which he had been or to make any corrections.
In course of further conversation Mr. Zaroudny said that he was not a
Russian, but that he was a native of Novamoskovsk in Little Russia.
He called himself a professional traveller and said that he had travelled in
Arabia, Abyssinia, and many other countries, and that next year he intended
to travel through Tibet and Nepal to India.
He went from Bukhara to Afghan Turkistan a few years ago, but was
turned back by the Afghans from Sar-i-Pul.
Mr. Zaroudny wore a small Russian cap which did not afford the least
shelter from the sun to his head or temples, but he said that he could stand
the sun well and did not feel the heat at all which is a matter for surprise.
Prom various remarks that Mr. Zaroudny made in course of conversation
at different times I gather that part of the expenses of his travelling in Persia
and Baluchistan are paid by the Zoological and Geographical Societies and
part by the Russian War Office for work done in connection with surveys and
completion of maps, etc.
Mr. Zaroudny did not show the slightest inclination to be inquisitive.
In both interviews he spent nearly all the time in talking about his own
explorations and researches or answering my queries. All he asked me was
whether he could get a permit to visit India. 1 told him that no permit was
necessary and that he could go anywhere in India without a passport.
On another occasion he remarked that he supposed I was doing the same
sort of work as he did. I replied that I was neither a zoologist nor a
surveyor, but that I was a member of the British Consulate-General at
Meshed and was proceeding on furlough to India. He made no further
enquiries.
75. In a private interview which I
Relations between Snrtip Mir Ma’sum Khan, Jj a( J with Sartip Mil* MPsUlU Khan,
S2bm«t 0 uS”Tk r . 01 Sist^ ' , ' ,,,d b “ f ‘ tb "’ “' e Deputy Governor of Sistan, he talked
about his own affairs.