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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.
The turquoises are not cut or dressed at Madan, and therefore it is impos
sible to value the daily or weekly outturn.
It is said that about a hundred thousand tumans worth of turquoises were
taken out of the mines last year. The expenditure incurred at the Madan is
given as follows :—
Rent of the Mines, tumans ... ... 24,000
Presents distributed to the ministers and other officials ... 6,000
Pay of the establishment and wages of the labourers ... 20,000
Total tumans ... ... ... 50,000
The balance of 50,000 tumnns includes wages of cutting and dressing
stones ; charges for exporting turquoises to Europe, Russia and India and the
profit of the Malik-ul-Tajjar.
Only a very small number of turquoises is sold at Meshed by the Malik-
ul-Tujjar, as he puts very high prices on them.
Stones of superior quality are exported to Russia and other countries in
Europe, and those of inferior quality are exported to India.
The village of Madan has two hamlets, and the number of families living
in them is estimated to be about four hundred. About three hundred persons
Tvork in the turquoise mines. The natives of the Madan village are exempted
from the payment of duty at the salt mines and mill stone quarries, provided
they work these mines for themselves, but others are charged one kran per don
key load of salt.
Besides the rock mines there are mines in mounds of earth called Madan-
i-Khaki. Stones of the most perfect colour and quality are found in these
mines, which are far less productive as regards numbers of stones than those
found in the rock mines.
The Khaki mines are free from taxation.
Very little cultivation is carried on at the village of Madan. The produce
is insufficient for the consumption of the people. At a distance from Madan
there is a lead mine in a hill, which was once worked.
There are six kanatsof water at the village of Madan, supplies are procur
able. The road the whole way from Mashkan to Madau is fit for wheeled
traffic.
12 th May 1899 .—To Rushidabad, about 16 miles. The road ascends over
several low hills until the crest is reached, whence a fine view is obtained.
Below the crest are several salt mines. I inspected one. It w as a large excava
tion containing rock salt. The miners were blasting it, and carrying the salt
away on donkeys.
Eurther on the village of Karkuchi is passed, which has only 20 families.
This village has a spring of water and some rain wmter crops. Thence the
road runs down the hills and then enters a narrow valley called Julou-i-Marus
and immediately a stream known as the Marus which runs from the Biualud
range is crossed. Near this stream to the east is a salt mine known as Kuh-i-
Alidawalla and a little down the stream to the west is the village of Zung.
The population of Zung is about 30 families.
Eurther on a hamlet called Pur*i-Shikishta, containing 10 families is
reached, and from this point the Nishabur valley commences. The first village
that is reached in this valley is Hisar-i-Nao, which has GO families and further
on Ibrahimabad is passed. Ibrahimabad has 40 families and is the property
of the Naiyar-ul- Dowleh. Near this village a stream known as Kharas Earud
which runs from the Binalud range, is crossed. Continuing on Rushidabad
is reached.
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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'Seistan' [27r] (53/782), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/352, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069721602.0x000038> [accessed 26 June 2026]
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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