!['Seistan' [‎92v] (184/782)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0003bc/Mss Eur F111_352_0202.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "'Seistan' [‎92v] (184/782)")
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.
should require. 1 took the Opportunity of explaining to him that the only remedy
for realizing on this enormous surplus supply of grain in Seistan was to encourage
traders who would buy and leave money in the country, thus facilitating in the
future any increased demand for money which the Rukn ud-Daulah might make.
The effect of this second conversation with the Mustophi has been to make
him more inclined to make friends with me, and though I am not prepared to
trust him very fatj I hope he may be of use. He has since sent several messages
to ask after me and to arrange a meeting.
Immediately after visiting the Mustophi I saw the Amir in private. I told
him I had seen the former and had advised him to come to some understanding
and gave the same advice to the Amir. The Amir was pleased that I had made
friends with the Mustophi as he said it would help him, and said that the Mus-
tophi‘s miisson was entirely dictated by the Russians. He laughingly added three
of these emissaries came from Meshed; two have gone and the third will go too.
He has lost much of his fear of the Russian Vice-Consul and openly derided
him.
Mustophi Khalik Khan on his return visit to me after clearing the room for
private conversation again narrated to me his former connection with the Indian
Government and led me to understand that he had had to be very wary in his
report to Meshed about his having visited me and having become so intimate.
He said he had explained to the Rukn-ud-Daulah that he had done no
more than pay a return visit to me ! and that as I was a friend of
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.
Ayub
Khan, he had been anxious to hear news of him, etc.
He also said that his orders regarding the Amir Hashmat-ul-Mulk were very
strong and were not for his good, but that now he hoped to arrange matters, add
ing that he hoped I would see in this his desire to serve our interests. The Mus
tophi is an Afghan and an adventurer, neither of which qualifications would make
one trust him very far. I believe that he has acquired some influence over the
Rukn-ud-Daulah and that he came down here knowing that by carrying out the
Rukn-ud-Daulah’s wishes he was also acting not contrary to the interests of the
Russians. Finding that the British influence in Seistan was so paramount, he
allowed himself to be captured and is now anxious to ride in on the flowing
tide. In any case untrustworthy though he may be it is possible he may serve
our interests both here and at Meshed.
I hear that the Amir has now received promises of support from Tehran and
that he has adopted quite a dehant attitude towards the Rukn-ud-Daulah and his
emissary, the Mustaphi,
I am in hopes that the final result of the extra demand for revenue will be
attended with no change of Government here, but will be settled quietly by the
more usual plan of a little extra peshkash all round.
Bazar rumours.
Seth Sulaiman reports that Mr. Miller has acquired land on the Helmund
to grow cotton. I can hardly believe that Seth Sularman rightly understood
Mr. Miller and I have not received this news from any other source. It is an
old rumour which I heard when I first came here.
It is said that the Amir Hashmat-ul-Mulk has taken Rs. 6,000 from me for
the site on which I have my camp. It is said a Russian merchant is coming
here, but from what Mr. Miller tells me, it will be difficult to induce a Russian
subject to come so far.
Mr. Miller is said to have again reported the Amir Hashmat-ul-Mulk for
showing him so little attention.
There is no truth in the rumour that the Amir intends going to Tehran as
reported in my Diary No. 5 for period 1st to 14th May 1900.
6
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
Use and share this item
- Share this item
'Seistan' [92v] (184/782), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/352, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069721602.0x0000bb> [accessed 28 July 2026]
https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100069721602.0x0000bb
Copy and paste the code below into your web page where you would like to embed the image.
<meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100069721602.0x0000bb">'Seistan' [‎92v] (184/782)</a> <a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100069721602.0x0000bb"> <img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0003bc/Mss Eur F111_352_0202.jp2/full/!280,240/0/default.jpg" alt="" /> </a>
This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0003bc/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images
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