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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.
I
No. 3393, dated Quetta, the 19th March 1
From—H. S. Barnes, Esq., I.C.S., C.S.I., Agent to n
Baluchistan,
To—The Secretary to the Government of India, Foreign Department.
I have the honour to submit, for the information of the Government of India,
copy of the diaries of the Political Assistant, Chagai, for the weeks ending the
16th and 24th of February 1900.
Diary of the Political Assistant, Chagai, for the week ending 16 th February
1900.
gth. —Daulatabad to Nasratabad, 17 miles.
10 th to Halt at Nasratabad.
2. I reached Nasratabad, the capital of Seistan, on the 9th instant. The
official reception accorded me left nothing to be desired. Indeed from the
moment I crossed the frontier into Seistan up to the present nothing could have
exceeded the courtesy and consideration with which I have been treated. Every
one from the young Deputy Governor downwards has apparently striven to make
my visit to Seistan a pleasant one. I am gratified to be able to record this as
evidencing the steady growth of our influence in Seistan and South Khorassan.
3. Five days subsequent to my arrival, M. Muller, Russian Vice-Consul for
Birjand and Seistan, reached Nasratabad. The reception M. Muller received
was also good, but it contrasted unfavourably with the welcome given me. This
gentleman’s bearing towards various subordinate Persian officials here has been
made the subject of much adverse comment.
4. The Russian Vice-Consul’s staff and establishment consists of the follow-
. ing members
{a) Mirza Muhammad Ali of Meshed, pay Rs. 165 per mensem with Rs.
99 per mensem fixed travelling allowance.
(b) Two Peshkhidmats, natives of Meshed, whose pay is said to be Rs.
33-2-0 each per mensem.
(c) One private servant by name Sher Ali Khan, pay unknown.
(d) Six Russian troopers (European) with pay ranging from Rs. 33-2-0
to Rs. 26-8-0 each per mensem.
5. My arrival in Seistan, five days before the Russian Vice-Consul, has had
an excellent political effect and has gone far to minimize the importance which
the Seistanis would have attached to M. Muller’s deputation.
6. In addition to the staff enumerated above, M. Muller informed Hospital
Assistant, Abbas Ali, in the course of an interview the latter had rvith him that
he expects his staff to be augmented, in the course of the next six or eight weeks
by the addition of a Russian Medical Officer.
7.
Sardar
Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division.
Purdil Khan informs me that the lands near Mian King! are
under water. I am afraid that I will thus not be able to pay a visit to these^ands
I was anxious to do so, as they have been the cause of much bad blood between
the Afghans and inhabitants of Seistan. I trust, however, that before leaving
Seistan I will have mastered the ins and outs of this somewhat intricate dispute
Diary of the Political Assistant, Chagai, for the week ending 24 th February
1900.
lyth to 24th. —Halt at Nasratabad.
3. M. A. Muller, the Russian Vice-Consul in Seistan, called on me on 17th
and I returned his call the following day. • 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