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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.
2
FOEEIGN DEPAETMENT,
— —
8 F 25 Direct correspondence between Afghanistan and Persia.
propose in the present despatch to give some account of the water question,
both because it is, I venture to hope, of interest, and also the question of the
boundary is one which may again be referred to the arbitration of Her
Majesty’s Government.
The invasion of Seistan by Tamurlane or Timur “ the Lame,” who acquired
his soubriquet as the result of an arrow wound in this province, is the one event
which is indelibly impresssd on the native mind, and I consequently propose to
commence my review from that period.
< A reference to Sketch 1 will show that the dam at Akva, at that time
divided up the Helmund at a point now in Afghan territory, while it irrigated
a district to the south of Seistan, which is now covered with ruins, whose
presence has puzzled more than one traveller.
The main stream, the Rud-i Nasru, ran north-west between the vast extent
of ruins which are still known as Shehristan and Zahidun.
Shah Rukh completed the barbarous massacre and destruction that was
commenced by his sire and demolished the Band-i-Akva.
Sketch II is drawn to indicate the course then taken by the Helmund *
the Hauzdar district to south of Seistan was gradually left without water, and*
the river, while maintaining the main Rud-i-Nasru as its principal branch, cut
out a new channel encircling the three hills of Sehkuha, which were at that
time uninhabited.
This was the course followed by the Helmund until the second decade of
this century, when the Hauzdar channel, the Sehkuha channel and the Rud-i-
Nasru all dried up.
The entire volume of water {vide Sketch III) then flowed in a northerly
direction, cutting out a channel to the west of Nad-i-Ali, the original stream
to the east of that hill fortress having also dried up.
As what we now term Persian Seistan was left entirely without water, the
Rud-i-Seistan was cut—a task of great difidculty—running to the north of* and
parallel to the Sehkuha channel.
Tins was the state of the river when Sir Frederic Goldsmid °-ave his
arbitral decision, in which he made the Helmund the boundary from the
Band-i-Seistan to where it discharged its waters into the <i Hamun” or lake.
Some eight years ago, however, the Helmund began to forsake the Nad-
Sketch iv. }' Ali chaGn el> breaking across what is
... known as Mian Kangi in various places
until, some three years ago, a regular channel, known as the Rud-i Perian
Tnd JeWabkd . 08 ylDS flourislli “8 of Jehanabod, Ibrahimabad.
As a result of this change, the lake to the north of where the Helmund
side"" 1117 ^ While “ Uttle ° r n ° Water l6ft t0
As a partial remedy, the Baluch Chief, who lived in the south of Mian
Kangi, has out a channel, with Afghan aid, from the Rud-i Perian to the old
Helmund, but this action has drawn down upon him the wrath of the Persian
authorities, and he has been compelled to fly across the border.
In conclusion, it would appear that the loss to the Afghans by the
that ng porVon e 7 rS , e he l e H > elr r n ^ S ^ S reat ’ but > ^ other "hand
” ^has UtCe m ^ 0 ^
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