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'Seistan' [‎25r] (49/782)

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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. .

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9
the parallelogram was about 320 yards by about 150 yards. No building
remained inside, but a deep dry well still exists. All the walls and towers
were more or less ruined. Close to it is an enclosure of about half a square
mile with the remains of many buildings. About the centre of this enclosure
was once a bazar where a large number of curios and coins have been found—
so much so that the right of search for them has been sold as a c on tract
like everything else in Persia.
Prom Bilkis I rode to Mianabad. This place is a mass of orchards and groves
with a small walled village and citadel. The water-supply is very good, it
flows down a river bed from the Shahjahan mountain and is led off in several
irrigation channels, Kishtan and Mianabad together have at least 700 houses
and about 20 shops. Supplies of all sorts are plentiful. Pive Armenians are
occupied in trade at this place, importing sugar and kerosineoil from Ashkabad,
and exporting thither cotton, dried fruit and raisins. These men have set up
a cotton press at Mianabad. Prom Mianabad a track runs to Shirwan in the
Kuchan valley.
There are said to be about 100 villages in the Isfarain vallev, about 40 of
which are under the chief of Bujnurd. The latter has a naib for revenue
purposes at Mianabad.
May 5th, 1899 .—To Ayas, about 11 miles. The road first lay through the
gardens and orchards of Mianabad. I noticed several water mills. Emerging
from the orchards the road crossed the plain at the base of the slopes of the
Shahjahan mountain. I had seen the other side of this great mass during my
march from Kuchan to Shirwan.
The following villages were passed on the way :
Mianabad
• ««
• • •
... 700 families.
Kalata-i-Mulla Karim...
• ••
.. 70
Pastau
• « .
60
»
Izi
• » •
... 60
)>
Karimabad
• « •
*%•
... 100
Abbasabad...
• «*
,,,
... 100
Daulatabad
... 50
At the village of Pastan, Bujnurd territory ends, and at the village of Izi, I again
entered Kuchan territory. 'Wheeled traffic could go anyw r here. Ayas has a
water-supply from a kanat, but it only boasts about 10 families. There is less
water at this part of the valley than there was at the point I entered it. It blew
a severe gale at night.
May 6th, 1899 .—To Bikrabad, about 13 miles. There was a cool breeze with
some rain. The track passed for some miles over a plain either uncultivated
or with only rain cultivation, passing the Shahjahan mountain. The range
ia here called Kulingan. The first village met with was Nasrabad (about
20 families) of Baghairi Turks. Soon after this the Babasangar Ziarat came
in sight in the hills to the north. To the south lay a range of hills called
Ali Zaidah. To the south of this again is Jawain territory under the
Governor of Sabzawar; forming the boundary of Kuchan territory. The
next village reached was Dahanai Ujagt containing about 200 families of
Baghairi Turks. There were many orchards. A plentiful supply of water
irrigated extensive wheat fields on the lower grounds below the village.
Shortly afterwards the ziarat of Saiyid Niamat Uila was reached with a
small dome. There are several ruined forts about Bikrabad. The present
Bikrabad has only a very few houses containing about 5 families. Prom this
point a road for baggage animals runs through the hills to Kuchan. Prom
Bikrabad the Baghairi valley commences, the villages of which pay revenue to
the Governor of Bam who sends it to the Governor-General at Meshed. The
„ Najd-ul-Saltanat, * the present Governor
. Beg of js now Meshed _ Sinoe ^ was
written the Najd^ubSaltanat has been appointed Wazir Minister. of Khorassan.

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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
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'Seistan' [‎25r] (49/782), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/352, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069721602.0x000034> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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