!['Seistan' [‎69v] (138/782)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0003bc/Mss Eur F111_352_0154.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "'Seistan' [‎69v] (138/782)")
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.
2
To continue, after a day’s halt, we rose up to the range on the south and,
at 9 miles, passed through what is known as “ Nadir’s Gate
A manuscript, containing a history of the Seljuks of Iverman, has, how
ever, recently been printed, of which I am engaged in writing a precis in
English ; in "it a full account is given of this gateway, which was towered and
secured by an iron door, in the eleventh century. The ruined towers are still
extant, and the whole defile is of the greatest strength, as, for miles, single file
must be maintained.
One night we bivouacked, using water carried from Nasratabad for the
horses, and the next morning found us at Gurg, or “The Wolf,” which is
considered the most appalling part of the Dasht-i-Gut.
M. Khanikoff, who had also visited the Kara Kum desert, emphatically
declares that it yields the palm in sterility to the great Persian waste. Person
ally, from what I saw of the former desert, when travelling to and from
Samarkand, I could imagine nothing worse than the miles of moving sandhills,
without any landmark. However, my four journeys across the Dasht-i-Lut,
with the exception of the first, have all been accomplished without incident,
which perhaps makes me under-estimate its terrors.
To resume, the water was almost undrinkable, even for our horses and
camels, while a bitter stream—not the Rud-i-Mahi as shown in the latest map—
trickles away to the west and, even in November, the mosquitoes were trying,
but we could not even faintly realise the horrors of the route in midsummer.
At the time of our arrival, a band of nine robbers was at this stage, so we all
had to march together and also afford protection to four caravans, who awaited
our arrival.
The fact is that, at Nasratabad, where a force of forty camelry is nominally
maintained, none are paid and, consequently, not even four men could be pro
vided as escort. I have, of course, made strong representations on this point to
the Governor-General, as it is intolerable that a main trade route should be
rendered unsafe in this way.
Erom Gurg, two more stages, of great length, lay between us and Eahraj.
On the way we saw the two columns, also built by the same Seljirk, Kaward,
to guide travellers, and realised how easily the track is lost among the moving
sandhills.
Eahraj is a village with 200 houses, and formed a delightful prospect of
green palms and mimosa, but as I heard that Captain Napier, of the Intelli
gence Pranch, had already passed through Narmeshir, I pressed on as fast as
possible, travelling by the same route as in 1898.
Kerman was reached on the 2 nd December, where, after the usual official
reception, a journey of sixteen months under canvas was brought to a successful
termination.
As I have, perhaps finally, quitted Eastern Persia, I beg to state my opin
ion that, after considering the question in all its bearings for a year, 1 am
profoundly impressed with the feeling^ that although but little commercial
advantage may accrue, politically speaking, the four districts under my charge,
form the glacis of India, and that to allow Russia a firm footin <r thereon would
vitally affect our interests.
General Macgregor, although writing from a different point of view, speaks
of Kain as "a point d'appui against Afghanistan”. I read this since writing
despatch No. 10, but I am glad to see that his great authority supports my
The strategical side of this question is worked out at greater length in
Captam Napier s “ Report on Southern Persia ”, in which my theory is embodied,
and which will shortly be published. j >
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' [69v] (138/782), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/352, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069721602.0x00008d> [accessed 20 August 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