!['Seistan' [‎99r] (197/782)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0003bc/Mss Eur F111_352_0215.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "'Seistan' [‎99r] (197/782)")
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.
The entire camp is well. I have not had a case of fevw sinos I came.
At present, with the exception of three cases of venereal, no sickness exists.
1 he horses too are all in excellent condition and all effective. There are in
camp 32 . horses all standing out. With care and attention and by adopting
some Persian methods for taking care of horses, the results of mosquitoes and
the famous fly of Seistan are modified to the extent of nullifying their danger
to the life of a horse or of even causing him to lose condition.
Increased demand by the Persian Government on Seistan revenues.
The matter still remains unsettled and is being arranged in the usual Persian
way. I do not anticipate any vigorous action on the part of the higher authori
ties, even if the total amount asked for is not forthcoming.
Customs dues in Seistan.
Nothing has as yet taken place towards establishing the new customs regu
lations and no question has arisen during the interval since I last reported on
the matter.
Bazaar rumours.
The report that the Shah intends visiting Meshed grows in strength.
It was reported to me that the Russian Vice-Consul had written to say
that English influence was greater here than anywhere else he had seen in
Persia. As the Consul writes in Russian and has no clerk who can read that
language the report is probably invented.
It was reported that the Russians had acquired a right of way along the
Perso-Afghan border for a railway, and that they would obtain a concession
to take over the revenues of Seistan. These reports, though common property,
are not believed.
Mr. Miller has several times asked me whether I have received reports
of plague at Kabul, which report was causing him some uneasiness. The report
was evidently founded on the appearance of cholera at Kabul.
Transport of corpses by the Seistan Mushki route for Meshed.
I*have received a letter from Captain Webb Ware asking me what the local
Government would say to corpses being brought to Meshed through Seistan
from India. I have replied that I think the question had best not be put to the
local Government just now and that if possible the Shias of India should be
dissuaded from such action, at any rate until plague is over in India.
My reasons being, that it would be a pity to launch such a topic during the
dead season we are now having here. The local Government would probably
raise no objection at all, but they would discuss the question and the Russian
Consul would then be able to arouse violent opposition to the proceeding before
the corpses arrived. As we have lulled him into inaction, I would deprecate
his being given such an opening. If the corpses must come, let them come,
and it will be time enough to mention the subject if questions are raised. The
local Government is not a Government to seriously consult.
In addition, I do not think that the transport of corpses along so undevelop
ed a road w'ould be a good advertisement and for the present all ventures along
this road should be regarded as advertising mediums.
Dated Nusratabad ; ^ G. C. TRENCH, Major,
The 31 st July igoo. ) Her Britannic Majesty's Consul for Seista'\ %
G, C. Ptess, Simla.—No, 813 F. D.-vp-ipoo,—31.
3
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' [99r] (197/782), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/352, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069721602.0x0000c8> [accessed 18 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