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The record is made up of 1 file (388 folios). It was created in 17 Jan 1899-4 Apr 1904. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
4
W
Kirman was quitted on 19th October, a few clays after a courier had
brought down instructions and our first stage was Mahun, where is the famous
shrine of the Indian Dervish Shah Niamat-ullah. From this point the cara
van route was quitted and we travelled to Te hran by a track not shown on the
map, which proved to be more suitable for a telegraph line than the road
followed by successive generations of travellers, the diflicult pass of Hanaka
being avoided and the total mileage being less.
At Bam we Were accorded a most friendly reception, the garrison and
townpeople turning out to welcome our party, while during a two days’ halt
supplies were laid in for the desert section that iay before us. One stage beyond
Bam, we entered the district of Narmskir, which resembles many parts of the
Punjab, both in its vegetation and temperature, there being a fall of nearly
5,000 feet from the second stage, south-east of Kirman to Ptigan, its chief village.
Here we were on the western edge of the great desert, which stretches to
the gates of Tehran to the north-west, while to the north its desolate expanse
is almost as immense.
I he most direct road to Seistan would have been followed by proceeding in
a north-easterly direction from Azizabad, which lies midway between Bam
and Bigan, this being a section of the great caravan route between Bandar
Abbas and Sistan, which I hope, in a future despatch, to compare with its rival
starting from Quetta.
Ihere is no route shown on the map connecting Narmshir with Kwash.
the capital of Sarhad, but as Mr. Wood had received instructions to examine
the roads in this direction, inquiries were made, which elicited the fact that the
desert could be crossed at this point.
Thanks to the great courtesy invariably shown by the Kirman authorities
a body of five men acquainted with the desert was ready to guide us, and after
loading up a few camels with forage and water, we exchanged the thick
tamarisk jungle of the Narmshir for the intense stillness of the desert.
Owing to the severe drought, we suffered considerably from want of water
while what was procurable could scarcely be termed wholesome. However 5
ue were better off than our horses and camels, who frequentlv had no w r ater
for a period of thirty hours.
Ihe track which we followed led past the northern edge of the Bazman
T an ?on! V 0 C ‘- iet P, ea k rises to an elevation of more than 11,000 feet
In Ib.M 1 enjoyed a superb view from its summit.
o. , t] ; e Si f^ 1 da { af , ter leaving Bigan, we entered the monotonously uniform
Smh Band or Black Bange which holds up Sarhad on the west, but it was
not until we had crossed this mountain barrier that we enjoyed water that was
ofTalad n ’ 0n the tGnth day We reached ^wash, the caphal
Throughout these ten days we had not seen a solitary human being, while
the signs of the drought were everywhere visible; many springs being dried
^’the camels ^ UP and afforded Httle 0r no nourishment
At K ' yash where, in 1893, I had found a large garrison, the fort was noi
)y i a W - lllle the Wack tents Lad been reduced to abou
half the number that I had previously counted.
Two of the Chiefs, whom I knew, were absent on visit to Sir Naoraz Kim
and from all I could gather, the Kharan
Sardar
Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division.
has great influence ?n Sarhad
of the great volcL^ Kuhd-Stan.t r ° UDd ^ eaStern las
About this item
- Content
The file contains papers relating to Seistan [Sistan] and Persia [Iran].
The file includes printed copies of despatches from the Agent to the Governor-General of India and HM Consul-General for Khorasan and Seistan (Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Martindale Temple), to the Secretary to the Government of India Foreign Department, with enclosed despatches from Captain Percy Molesworth Sykes to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (the Marquis of Salisbury). Skyes’s despatches regard matters including: Seistan; trade routes into South-East Persia; the boundary between Persia and Afghanistan, in relation to the River Helmund [Helmand] changing its course (in despatch No. 5, which includes four sketch maps, folios 12, 13, 14 and 15); Sykes’s journey to Birjand (in despatch No. 7, which includes a sketch map on folio 20); the ruling family of Kain, which also governed Seistan, Tabbas and Tun; Sykes’s journey from Seistan to Kerman [Kirman] (in despatch No. 11, which includes a sketch map); and the direct Kerman-Quetta caravan trade that Sykes was trying to establish.
The file also includes copies of the following papers:
- A despatch from Temple to the Secretary to the Government of India Foreign Department, enclosing a letter from Temple to Sir Henry Mortimer Durand (HM Minister, Tehran), with copies of enclosures, regarding the establishment of a Seistan and Kain consulate
- A letter from Charles Edward Pitman, Director General of Telegraphs, to the Secretary to the Government of India Public Works Department, enclosing a copy of a ‘Report on the Preliminary Survey of the Route for a Telegraph Line from Quetta to the Persian Frontier’ by H A Armstrong, Assistant Superintendent, Indian Telegraph Department, which includes six photographs of views along the route [Mss Eur F111/352, f 52; Mss Eur F111/352, f 53; Mss Eur F111/352, f 54; Mss Eur F111/352, f 55; Mss Eur F111/352, f 56; and Mss Eur F111/352, f 57], and a map showing the proposed route of the telegraph line [Mss Eur F111/352, f 59]
- Letters from Hugh Shakespear Barnes, Agent to the Governor-General in Baluchistan, to the Secretary to the Government of India Foreign Department, enclosing copies of the diary of the Political Assistant, Chagai, for the weeks ending 16 February, 28 February, and 8 March 1900
- Diary No. 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12 of Major-General George Frederick Chenevix-Trench, HM Consul for Seistan (Diary No. 6 includes a sketch map, folio 86)
- A copy of a ‘Report on Reconnaissances Made while Attached to the Seistan Arbitration Commission’ by W A Johns, Deputy Consulting Engineer for Railways, Bombay
- A copy of the report ‘Notes on Persian Seistan’, compiled by Captain Edward Abadie Plunkett, and issued by the Government of India Intelligence Branch, Quarter-Master General’s Department
- Two copies of map signed by Plunkett titled ‘Persian Seistan-Cultivated Area’ [Mss Eur F111/352, f 270]
- A booklet entitled ‘Notes on the Leading Notables, Officials, Merchants, and Clergy of Khorasan, Seistan, Kain, and Kerman.’
- Printed copies of letters from the Government of India Foreign Department to the Secretary of State for India (Lord George Francis Hamilton), relating to the maintenance of British interests in Persia, dated 4 September 1899 and 7 November 1901 (the former with an enclosure of a minute by the Viceroy on Seistan).
- Extent and format
- 1 file (388 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the front to the rear of the file.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 390; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. The file contains one foliation anomaly, f 301A
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/352
- Title
- 'Seistan'
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:51v, 58r:58v, 60r:112r, 113r:125v, 147r:218r, 218r, 219r:269v, 271r:301v, 301Ar, 301Av, 302r:388v, 389v:390r, 389r, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence