!['Seistan' [‎26r] (51/782)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0003bc/Mss Eur F111_352_0063.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "'Seistan' [‎26r] (51/782)")
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.
I
To the west of the road the following villages lie :
Pahua ... ... ... ... 10 families.
Nusk... ... ... ... ... 40 „
At a distance of about 4 miles from Mashkan is Marzan with 60 families
of Bayat Turks, and a farsakh and a half further on is the fortified village of
Ardelan, up to which place the track ascends the whole way.
It is said that in former times Ardelan was a thickly populated place, but
at present it contains only 20 families of Bayat Turks.
At about half a mile further on is Haiabad, which has only 5 families.
Close to Madan is Kalata-i-Hasan Ali which has 40 families. Here the Sara-i-
Yilayat division of the Nishabur district ends.
Near Madan I was met by the Manager of the Turquoise mines and the
Naib and about 30 elders of the village of Madan, and at the camp a detach
ment of Persian infantry was drawn up to receive me.
In the afternoon I visited the Madan-i-Baishi in a hill overlooking Madan.
Below it on the opposite side of the hill is the Abdul Bazak mine, and
below it again lie the Dekud Bam and Chiragh Kush mines.
11th May 1899. —Madan. Halt. In the forenoon I visited the Madan-i-
Abd-ul-Bazzaki. It lay about half a mile from the village and some 500 feet
up the hill. The outside is a great cave in the rock which contains several
galleries, all of which have separate names.
In the afternoon Mirza Juwad Agha, the manager of Madan, Mirza Ali
Naki Khan, Naib of the village of Madan, and Mirza Hasan Mustaufi paid me
a visit.
The Malik-ul-Tajjar of Meshed has farmed the Turquoise mines at an
annual rent of 24,000 tumans for ten years. This sum includes the rent of
salt mines, which are four in number, together with mill stone quarries and the
village of Madan.
The Malik-ul-Tajjar had the monopoly of Turquoise mines for about 12
years, but about 1891, the mines were taken from him and given to the Nusrat-
ul-Mulk (the Timuri chief) and Haji Muhammad Hasan, an Afghan Banker, at
an enhanced rent. But the Malik-ul-Tajjar outbid them and got the mines
back again. It is this uncertainty of tenure which prevents the outlay of capital
on the mines, and their improvement.
The following mines are worked at present;
1. Karbalai Hasani.
2 . Baishi.
3. Mirza Ahmadi.
4. Karhalai Karimi.
5. Zaki.
6 . Thai.
7. Abdul-Bazzaki.
These mines are named after the persons who worked them in former times.
It is said that the best Turquoises are found in the Kalb-i-Karimi mine, but
the Abdul-Razzaki also produces really good stones. Owing to no money be
ing expended the mine fell in and was not worked for a long time. It is now
being ■worked again.
The Abdul Bazzaki mine is situated in a hill known as Kuh-i-Abu Ishaki,
and near to it there are the following mines which, being filled up are not
11
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
Use and share this item
- Share this item
'Seistan' [26r] (51/782), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/352, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069721602.0x000036> [accessed 22 June 2026]
https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100069721602.0x000036
Copy and paste the code below into your web page where you would like to embed the image.
<meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100069721602.0x000036">'Seistan' [‎26r] (51/782)</a> <a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100069721602.0x000036"> <img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0003bc/Mss Eur F111_352_0063.jp2/full/!280,240/0/default.jpg" alt="" /> </a>
This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0003bc/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images
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