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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
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3
Prom Bunder Abbas to Rigan is two hundred and fifty-four miles and
Bunder At>tm8 to Rban, 254 miles. thence to Sehkuha, two hundred and forty-
itigan to Sehkuha, 242 miles. ^ wo m ii eSj total distance thus aggre
gating four hundred and ninety-six miles, or some 16 % less than the British
route, a very important consideration.
To first take the question of water, the supply on this route is good as far
as Rigan, but, thenceforward, it is even more scanty than on the Quetta road.
As regards supplies, grazing and altitude, there is, however, no compari
son, as there are small towns and villages studded along the road, as far as
Rigan and beyond, while the village of Nasratabad breaks the desert section
into two.
The camel grazing generally is as good as that on the Quetta road is
indifferent, while the route lies in “ hot ” country, except for three or four stages
near Seistan. With respect to the latter point, it may be as well to explain
that a route should be either “ hot” or “ cold” country, so that caravans can
select the season of the year when the grazing is good. If, however, both
“ hot” and “ cold” country have to be alternately passed through, the result is
obvious.
As a slight set off to these advantages, there is a toll of Is. 8 c?. per camel
taken at Dalian Abbas Ali, some thirty miles south of Rigan, while raids from
Bashakird are, by no means, a thing of the past.
Elsewhere the route is fairly safe, as it is almost out of the reach of Jend
Khan, to end whose depredations is my anxious desire.
To compare the routes, that from Quetta is nearly a hundred miles longer,
while in the question of supplies, grazing and altitude, the Bunder Abbas
route is much preferable.
As to the respective advantages of Quetta and Bunder Abbas, the former
town is not only several hundred miles from the sea, but I understand that the
freights of the Bolan railway are extremely high.
In the above comparison I have only referred to the routes as running to
Seistan, but the ultimate goal is Meshed or even beyond, Seistan itself, with
its savage population, absorbing very little in the way of imports.
The main Khorassan route avoids Seistan altogether, so that the advantage
of distance is considerably greater when the whole length of the route to
Meshed be considered.
Although I think that it will be conceded that, as regards European
goods, the Quetta route cannot, at present, compete with its rival, there
appears to be a great opening for the Indian route in the export of tea and
perhaps indigo.
It is generally understood that a sea voyage causes tea to deteriorate, but,
apart from that, the Kangra valley is as near Quetta as it is to the ports of
Karachi or Bombay.
In addition to this, there is no reason that a large local traffic should not
spring up, especially as the Amir practically closes all the direct routes, but,
as I have ventured to point out above, supplies must be procurable, the whole
question hinging upon the fact that, for nearly five hundred miles, there is
no village or hamlet along the road, which state of affairs must be altered.
As far as the question of the Seistan Consulate is concerned, I would
submit that, as the majority of caravans never enter Sustan, which is impas
sable for many months and always risky, while they all pass through Ghaia
territory, it is important that our influence should be established at Birjand,
although I would not recommend that Seistan be neglected.
I have mentioned in a previous despatch that Seistan looks to Birjand
for both its garrison and the greater part of its officials, so that to leave its
ruler in the toils of Russian intrigue would appear to be an inadvisable
course, especially as all orientals are changeable to a degree.
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