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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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-S
Persia and Arabia.
Confidential.
No. 2 .
February 19.
Section 2.
Major Sykes to the Marquess of Salisbury .— (Received February 19, 1900.)
(No. 12 .)
My Lord, Kerman, December 18, 1899.
In the following despatch I have the honour to give an account of my
journey from Seistan to Kerman, which is the last section of my somewhat
lengthy and trying tour.
As I found that I had to pay for my camels while in Seistan, my stay in
the district was somewhat shorter than I had intended, but, at the same time,
there was nothing whatever to detain me, and I was able to leave with the
agreeable feeling that the agent whom I had installed was among friends.
Just before 'starting into the desert I received instructions to send back the
rest of my escort, a total of eight.
This I did with some reluctance, as with recent information from Ispahan
as to the escort of the Russian Consul at that city, and the position he had
thereby, partly, at any rate, acquired, I regretted that I was not allowed
to keep four sowars, more especially as, from the fact of this post being an
unsalaried one, my private means are not sufficiently large to keep more than
two or three mounted servants.
The desert lying between Seistan and Narmeshir—a distance of approxi
mately 200 miles—is divided into two almost equal sections by the village of
Isfeh, with its modern name of Nasratabad. Historically the route is of
interest as being, in all probability, the one followed by Kateros, who rejoined
Alexander the Great in Jiruft or Rudbar.
Some thirty years ago it was traversed by the Seistan Mission, but evidently
little, if any, survey was made, as, in the official maps, their route is only shown
dotted; however, on the present occasion, a survey from the new fixed points
was carried right across the desert, in spite of the obvious difficulties, a piece of
work reflecting much credit on the able surveyor attached to me.
The first two stages lay among the ruins of ancient Seistan, teeming with
legends of the matchless Rustam, after which a march of 37 miles brought us to
Turshab, or “Ritter Water”. A day’s halt was necessitated by the exhaustion
of the camels, and then two more long stages brought us to Nasratabad which is
a true oasis in the desert. Lying at an elevation of 3,800 feet, this village, which
was, it is said, founded by Isfundiar, possesses a large kanat of fair water and
excellent camel grazing.
At the present time there are some thirty families of cultivators, while I
saw quite a dozen Baluch tents pitched close by.
We had taken barley for the whole journey, but our supply of straw was
replenished, and as that is the most bulky article of forage, we were glad to
find an abundance of it. Other supplies were also procurable in fair quantities.
From the point of view of trade, the existence of this oasis is of the
greatest value, and I could not help wishing that the Nushki-Quetta road
possessed a similar village, where wayworn caravans could rest for a few da vs.
Beyond the commercial aspect, Nasratabad is of great strategical import
ance as guarding the only pass through the hills to the south, audit is this fact
that proves to my mind that Krateros came this way, there being no alternative
route from the Helmund.
1
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