'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)' [‎60r] (124/156)

ON HIS JOURNEY FROM MESHED TO QUETTA, 1898
97
( 6 ) On the road we met a caravan of about 50 camels on its way to
Pioneer caravan belongine to the Meehcd traders *'I6SLled from Quetta and carrvintr 1 Oft
going from Quetta by the new trade rente. packages of indigo and 38 imp Woe
See paragraph 23 (i). black TCnncrra 1 • ' CKa o eS 01
Muhammad Hasan Kban of Dera Ismail Khan who wls^fccompany'inp 0 the
caravan and partly to others. 1 : *=>
Muhammad Hasan intends to travel to Meshed by Gazik and Khaf and
has engaged his camels from Quetta to Gazik at the rate of Rs. 30 per camel
This is the pioneer caravan belonging to the traders of Meshed that is
See paragraph 23 (fc). trade route from
„ . -r , VJuetta. It is carrying the goods orderpd
by some of the Indian merchants at Meshed after the departure of mv
caravan. r ^
(c) Another Sistan caravan of 60 camels passed through Manzil on its
Breakiug down and less of camels belonging to back to Sistan. This is Dart of the
Siatan caravans. caravan that met us at Amir Chah and
.... , .7 . T + 1 , lett behln d owing to the bad
condition of its camels. Its camels are so exhausted and done un that it h»A
to leave 17 at Butak and 5 at Manzil. P tliat ltj had
According to the traders accompanying this caravan about 2,000 camels
sistan trade with Quetta. went from Sistan to Quetta last winter,
, .... . , , and about two-thirds have returned,
the rest having been lost on the road This is probably exaggerated, but there
is no doubt that some of the camels have been lost.
Sunday, 3rd July 1898.
Manzil — Malt.
141. Two of our camels broke down on the road and one was suddenly
Loss of one of our camels at SIanzil and necessity taken ill and died here A nnmhpr nf tRo
for halting there. other camels being exhausted by want of
water at Shur Rig and hard journey through sand were unable to march on as
usual. Therefore I found it necessary to halt here a dav in order to rest the
camels and to enable us to hire thirteen extra camels in place of the twelve
that we had engaged from Amir CMh to this place.
142. There is a Khasadar post at Manzil with a Daffadar and four Khdsa-
Levies at Manzil. ddrs w b° li ve in a small room which they
have built of stone. Bahar Khdn, the
eldest son of Zangi Khan, the Daffadar who died recently, gave us great assist
ance in procuring camels which facilitated our onward journey.
143. There were several wells here, but on examination I found that the
Condition Of woii. .t Mnnzii. surroundings of all were filthily dirty, and
the water so contaminated and defiled by
camels and sheep that it was undrinkable.
I had another well about two yards deep dug at higher level on the rh'ht
bank of the nalla which yielded good water, but the well was filled up by the
falling in of its loose sandy sides and had to be cleared out several times a day
to obtain the water required by my caravan.
In the interests of travellers and caravans it seems to be essential to have
a good well sunk here at a place safe from contamination and to have it lined
with stones to prevent the sides from falling in.
(a) I think the best way to keep wells clean and free from contamination
Improvements to wells of drinking water on the and to prevent their being filled up by
road necessary. san( l j n t hi8 part of the COUDtry is tO
build a platform of stone with sloping sides round each well in order to raise
the mouth of the well at least three feet from the ground and then to cover it
with a pair of doors to be kept locked when the well is not in use. Unless this
is done, it is impossible to insure a pure supply of drinking water.
At present the mouths of all wells at Amir Chah, Manzil, and other places
are nearly level with the ground, and even if camels and sheep are not allowed