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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.
No. 1.
Major Sykes to the Marquess of Salisbury .—{Received March 6 .)
My'Lord, , . Kerman, January S, 1900.
IN the following despatch I have the honour to give some account or tne curec
Kerman-Quetta caravan trade that I am trying to establish.
When I left Kerman at the end of 1898 for the British frontier I took specimens
of the famous carpets which Captain Webb Ware, Political Assistant, Cnagai,
forwarded for me to Quetta, where they were much admired, and, in consequence,
was assured that there would he a considerable demand. During the year that I spen
in Eastern Persia I engaged in constant correspondence on this subject, and, as the
plague favoured my plan by the continuance of quarantine in the
Persian Gulf
The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
and at
the ports of India, upon my return to Kerman I determined to act.
Agha Mahomed Hadi, a Persian merchant, who has been my unpaid agent, and
the Parsi community rose to the occasion, and after a careful selection, to avoid any
patterns not pleasing to European taste, one silk and some eighty woollen carpets were
prepared. In addition to this a load of pistachios, some saffron, specimens of shawl
and of silk were got ready, together with a few homespuns. .
The Parsi Council wrote to the Council at Quetta, while all prices were marked m
rupees
Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf.
. . . .
As agreed upon, Captain Webb Ware sent two of his levies from Kuh-i-MaliK
Siah, who reached me just before Christmas.
As it was impossible to hire five camels at a reasonable rate, while it was politic
to insure a handsome profit to this the first venture, I gave three Government camels,
which I have asked Captain Webb Ware to purchase at their Kerman valuation, and
two more were purchased. .
The Governor-General was informed of what was being done, and is being held
responsible, but as he has already acted upon my previous representations to pacificate
this section of the desert, and as there are two armed levies, I do not anticipate trouble
in this respect.
Finally, as I was informed that my sole emolument, an office allowance, which
had been withheld for more than eighteen months, was about to be paid in, I was able
to give pecuniary aid to this the first caravan, that is valued at 500/.
^ A glance at the attached sketch* will show that from Kerman to Bam is seven
stages, and thence to the frontier perhaps eight long desert marches. In any case the
distance is not greater than to the port of Bunder Abbas.
From Kuh-i-Malik Siah to Quetta is rather less than 500 miles, or thirty stages,
so that from Kerman to Quetta is forty-five stages.
A further reference to the map will show that there is a more direct route, which
will in future be used, and as the saving will be considerable, it may be calculated that
from Kerman to Quetta will be forty stages, the last six of which will lie along a made
road with caravanserais.
At Quetta there is no import duty, and at present there is no export duty on
carpets by this route, so that, owing to these advantages, merchandize can be
profitably sent, as return loads of indigo, which is grown in Sind, and tea can be sent,
with the further advantage of avoiding sea transport, so deleterious to tea.
I do not, my Lord, anticipate that this new route, crossing as it does an appalling
desert, will materially affect the Bunder Abbas trade, but I consider that it will
immensely help the Quetta route, and will tend to diminish frontier turbulence, while
it will open up a new market both for Kerman and Quetta.
It is, however, from the political point of view that I expect to derive the greatest
benefit, as India will undoubtedly be brought much closer by a route striking our
[1875/—2]
* Not printed.
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