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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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No. 240-A., dated Meshed, the 2nd December 1899. L, x v ^ C/
From— Captain J. F. Whyte, ( ffimting Agent to the Governor-General of India
and Her Britannic Majesty's Acting Consul-General for Khorassau and
Seistan,
To—The Secretary to the Government of India, Foreign Department.
In continuation of ray letter No. 204-A., dated the 28th October 1899, I
have the honour to forward, herewith, a copy of despatch No. 11 , dated the
2nd November 1899, from Major Sykes to the address of Her Majesty’s Secre
tary of State for Foreign Affairs.
No 11, Political, dated Seistan, the 2nd November 1899.
From -Major P. Molesworth Sykes, Her Britannic Majesty's Consul, Seistan,
To—Her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, London.
In this present despatch, I propose to give some account of my return
One enclosure. journey to Seistan, as well as to note the
state of affairs in that district, which I
am shortly leaving for my head quarters at Kerman.
In selecting the route, my main object was to finally ascertain which was
Vide sketch. ^ ie artery or arteries of commerce
from the coast, to efiect which, in the
first place, I obliquely crossed every valley lying to the west, as far as Basiran,
which is situated on the borders of the Great Desert: thence Neh was visited—
the point of junction for both routes from the South—and, from this important
centre, we travelled East, striking my former route at Bslndan, which is the < f—
last village passed on the road to Seistan.
. After having formally installed Hospital Assistant Ghulam Jilani and
having concluded the solitary pending cave, there was nothing to delay me at
Birjand, except the usual difficulties of engaging transport on fair terms, but
this chronic annoyance was finally surmounted and, on October 5 th, we
marched to Bujd.
As far as the second stage of Mud, the main route from Seistan to Birjand
was tollowed, but, from this village, we marched across the range to the west
into unexplored country. On our way, we visited the famous cave of Chinishk,
w nek is of great lepute as a shrine and which had recently been visited by Mir
Masum Khan, ex-Governor of Seistan, who hoped thereby to improve his
failing eyesight, although, owing to his drunken habits, the ministrations of
Ghulam Jiiani had been unsuccessful.
Th f cave is entered by an almost perpendicular descent for perhaps thirty
feet, after which it is necessary to crawl past a box, containing bones and
skulk Ike crux consists of a small round hole, which I could barely draw
myself through and the cave was then somewhat loftier and wider and, passing
fivingrock Ske et ° n ’ We reaclled a tank som e eight feet square, hewn out of the
A second descent was here necessary and we saw other skeletons, all in a
good state of preservation and were informed that these galleries continued
for many miles, which is, however, open to doubt.
The return, owing to the slippery nature of the rocks was difficult
although we were bare ooted, and, after successfully repassing the narrow hole
the upper air was regained and Virgil's description of Avernus came into my
mmd as, what with want ol air and much crawling and slippin 0, the experience
was more curious than agreeable. The keeper ot the shrine had a legend to the
effect that the skeletons were the mortal remains of pilgrims who °kearino- of
the murder of the Emam Baza, when on their wa/to Melhed, dec “ed to
spend the rest of their lives in this cave. uemueu to
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