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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.
4
viz
Miles.
Meshed to Chinaran
Chinaran to Kuehan
42
56
Kuchan to Askabad.
Beyond Kuchan the road to within 10 miles of Askabad is all among hills, and the
usual stages are(1) Imam-Kuli, 23 miles; (2) Gaudan (the Russian frontier post),
27 miles ; (3) Askabad, 28 miles. This portion has been regularly graded and built up
where necessary, and is kept in repair to some extent, gravel being thrownon occasion
ally in places where it is very bad; but it is in no sense a metalled road. W hen 1 came
over it, it was fair in parts, but for most of the way was very heavy, vtit.i mud m some
places a foot deep. As the information given in “ Routes in Persia ” about this part ot
the road is very out of date, I give it in greater detail.
Kuchan to Imam-Kulu
From Kuchan for the first 9 miles, as far as the village of Zuaran, the road ascends
steadily over low spurs; thence there is a steep zigzag ascent of nearly 3 tmles, after
which it descends into a small valley to the village of Mulla Muhammad (13 miles).
After going about a mile up the valley there is another steep zigzag ascent over very
heavy roads for some miles, then a descent, steep at first but afterwards more gradual,
to the village of Imam-Kuli, which lies in another valley running a little to the north
of west.
Imam-Kuli to Gaudan.
After leaving Imam-Kuli the road is down the valley for 10 miles to the village of
Durbadam, alongside a tair-sized mountain stream. The stream is crossed three times
by what looked substantial brick bridges, but the lowest and biggest of the three had
fallen in a few days before I was there. The valley is very narrow in parts, between
rocky hills.
At Durbadam the stream turns northwards, and the road leaves it and goes up a
side valley; this is a steady ascent, in one place through a gorge barely wide enough to
allow two vehicles to pass. A few miles up the road leaves the valley and commences to
ascend the range of hills to the north, rising rapidly by a long series of zigzags till the
top is reached. On the north side the descent is fairly steep for miles, when the road
again ascends and crosses two low watersheds before it reaches the valley in which the
Persian frontier post of Bajgirha (24 miles) is situated. From the village there is a
slight ascent to a low “ kotal ” at the head of the valley, which is on the actual frontier
line, thence a descent of 2 miles to the Russian post of Gaudan.
Gaudan to Askabad.
Gaudan is situated near the head of a valley draining northwards, and the road,
after leaving the post for the first few miles, keeps high up above the bed of the
stream, then drops suddenly by a series of zig-zags to the bottom of the valley, and
leads down it.
After 14 miles the stream turns westwards, and the road descends over a low spur,
then descends suddenly to the level of the plain, across which it goes direct for the last
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' [116v] (232/782), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/352, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069721604.0x000023> [accessed 26 June 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