!['Seistan' [‎88r] (175/782)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0003bc/Mss Eur F111_352_0193.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "'Seistan' [‎88r] (175/782)")
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.
3
shreding. This wind was said to be the Sad-o-bist roz wind, but I have been
so frequently before told the same that I am becoming sceptical. The force and
continuance of it, however, makes me think it is the renowned wind of 120 days.
Tent life during this period is impossible, besides being very trying to the nerves.
My small mud rooms are just finished, and I am able to shelter myself comfortably
in them. The wind itself is cool and pleasant if properly regulated with badgirs.
8th June .—Post from Quetta arrived.
Munshi
A term used in the Middle East, Persia and South Asia to refer to a secretary, assistant or amanuensis. Munshis were employed in the British administration in the Gulf.
Ahmad Din visited the Mos-
tophi Khalik Khan referred to in my diary No. 6. An account of his conversa
tion will be found under general remarks.
General Remarks.
Spread of British influence in Seistan.
There is no doubt that the people of Seistan have now 7 become quite accus
tomed to the presence of a British officer. I think w r e may dispel from our
minds that the Seistanis are any longer suspicious of our actions in this country.
T here is no doubt that my frequent conversations w'ith the people in their own
language has done much to allay any feelings of this sort. The accessibility of
myself and my camp to these people has had a good effect on them. Other
circumstances have had their share in bringing about what I can only term the
very friendly feelings of all classes of the people. I may mention the postpone
ment of the gymkhana and fireworks mentioned above, the prompt payment for
all supplies for the camp and most of all the daily payment to
coolies
A term used to describe labourers from a number of Asian countries, now considered derogatory.
employed
in making bricks, and in building the mud huts for myself and followers, etc.
The prestige of the British has been enhanced by the sustained efforts to
improve the communication between India and Seistan by the announcement
that my appointment is now a permanent one, that the British flag, camp and
buildings have occupied the most imposing site near the capital, that a British
flag on a high staff flies all and every day, that every one who works under the
flag receives the reward of his labour, that in and round the camp improvements
in some form are always being carried out, such as a riding school for the cavalry,
a small race-course with jumps, roads, paths, etc.
The frequent interchange of visits between myself and the Amir, and his
marked attitude of friendliness, both before me and at his private Darbars, have
given the people a confidence in all dealings from this camp.
It is an interesting sight to see the engagement of the 20 odd
coolies
A term used to describe labourers from a number of Asian countries, now considered derogatory.
for
building, and the rush there is to be first to arrive so as to get employment.
A number of Seistanis petitioned me the other day that they should be
employed before Hazaras who, they said, had no claims on me as they had.
These workmen, earning some and some J of a karan, come from long
distances and carry back to their homes praises of our dealings.
The result is we want for nothing, and our payments are not above the
market rates.
I have bought 5 or 6 ponies here. They are very cheap, averaging about
Rs. 60 each, and every evening some form of horse dealing goes on in the camp.
All this coming and going is having a very good effect on the people,
and the influence spreads to all the villages, w 7 here I find I am equally well
received.
When out of Nusratabad, I always have a small Union Jack carried on a
lance on a light pole by one of my sowars, so that the flag may become known
and be a symbol of friendliness and justice.
Mr. Miller has not the same advantages. He has no trade, no frontier
co-terminous, no town like Quetta, within reach of the ordinary Seistani. His
house built in the middle of the town is as difficult of ingress as a fort.
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' [88r] (175/782), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/352, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069721602.0x0000b2> [accessed 1 July 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