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'Seistan' [‎67r] (133/782)

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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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/
3
The new Governor is Sarhang Muhammad Raza Khan, an elder son of the
Hashmat-ul-Mulk by a concubine, but the actual work, as iDefore, is carried on
by the Deputy Governor.
Attended^ by the usual posse, both these officials rode out to meet us, while
the garrison lined the road near our camp.
I have much pleasure in reporting that we received a genuine welcome,
which favourably contrasted with Birjand, where the intercourse was always
official.
Seistan at the present time, is as dry as it was water-logged when we left
it in April • the Helmund flood was of smaller volume than usual, while none
of the other rivers gave any help whatever, so that the lake is not, except for
a small area to the \\ est, known as the <e Sea of Sabr,’ , and wells are the order
of the day.
TJnlike most portions of Persia, owing to the utterly defective system of
irrigation, there is no autumn crop, while the main canal has been choked by
sand and a diversion is being excavated.
Ilospital Assistant Abbas Ali appears to be a particularly good man for th©
work of Agent, as he has already been twice to Seistan, in 1897 and again, in
1898, so that he knows and is known to everybody, while the unhealthy
climate of Seistan makes medical attendance, a sure passport to good will.
The district is not in a satisfactory state, as the Baluchi relations of the
late Governor are trying, by raiding and stealing, to discredit the new ruler,
but as their unpopularity is increased by each act of violence, the policy would
appear to be short-sighted.
In conclusion, I would beg to mention that but one small case was pend-
ing in Seistan, while all fresh information fully confirms my views, already
expressed on the subject of the Quetta road.
Exd.-
«R. B.
G. I. C. P. 0.—No. eiiF.D.—17.1.1900—56.

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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' [‎67r] (133/782), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/352, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069721602.0x000088> [accessed 15 May 2024]

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