'Seistan' [‎122v] (244/782)

4
that it dries up every afternoon; yet this is the only running water crossed by
the line between Baghak and the Helmand.
The wells at the post houses yield enough for the supply of ordinary
caravans, hut it is doubtful if many of them would stand the strain of railway
requirements. We no longer find the shallow free-flowing water holes of the
northern route, while there is no reason to suppose that artesian bores would
he successful.
Beyond Ekmach the outlook is much worse. The caravan road, it will
he noted, wanders about from spring to spring among the hills, in country quite
unsuited for a railway; while the latter is on open glacis or dasht where water
is rarely found, except at great depths and in small quantities. In dry weather
the springs among the mountains are little better than “ Soaks”; still some
thing may be possible in the way of improving and then piping them. We
may trust also to an increased knowledge of the country leading to the
discovery of unknown or unused sources; but the prominent fact at present is
that the whole tract on either side of the alignment is more desolate and water
less than any part of British Baluchistan that I am familiar with. Long pipe
line's, too, are open to grave objection on a military railway, since any band
of local outlaws or raiders can easily shatter a pipe carrying the supply to an
important changing station, and paralyse the traffic of the line.
We should, therefore, be prepared to have to work the traffic over long
distances with the help of tank wagons and water trains, as is now done, to
some extent, between Jacobabad and Sibi.
The flatness of the gradients render this course less objectionable than it
would be on a ghat line. Tanks could be constructed at all stations and fed
from wells or water trains for the use of troops in time of war, while in ordinary
times the staff would get their drinking water as best they could, from well,
spring, or pipe line. The quality of the water is generally bad.
Traffic. Prospects .—Under existing
conditions in Seistan, where a rising trade
has been suddenly stifled by hostile tariffs,
it is difficult to see what traffic prospects
the railway possesses, beyond those men
tioned in the Helmand route report.
Note .—Our new commercial treaty with Persia,
which I saw mentioned in the papers the other
day, may mend matters ; hut treaty agreements can
he burked by local officials, and the export of grain
from Seistan put under an embargo. Until a more
enlightened and progressive Government is establish
ed in Seistan, the grain exporting potentialities of
the country will never be fully developed.
A certain amount of trade still goes on across the border, but it is in camel
loads, not wagon-loads, and there seemed to be a good deal of smuggling con
nected with it.
Some dates, ghi, and wool would come in from Talk and Panjomr;
wheat from the Afghan Helmand might be expected in fair quantities; but all
export from the real granary, Seistan, might be prohibited.
. °wn territory is so destitute of inhabitants that the local traffic would
he infinitesimal from a railway-man’s standpoint.
The country, however, according to Mr. Vredenburg’s report, possesses
some mineral resources. r
\
Sulphur and earth dyes in the Koh-i-Sultan, a thin seam of lead near
See Appendix. Saindak, copper in Has Uoh, and the
remains of old copper workings near
ilobat. lime alone would show whether they were commercially worth anv-
thing, but from Mr. Vredenburg’s report they scarcely appear promising In
short, the railwcy (independently of possible extensions westward) has no claim
to be regarded as other than a purely political and strategic line, commanding
Seistan and the route from Nasratabad to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . Judged from
this aspect, it has several advantages over the Helmand route viz & it is not
only within onr own territory, but it offers at the same time— ’
{a) Better gradients.
(b) Greater freedom from sand.
(c) Less liability to interruption in time of war, as it is a surface line
and also protected all along its Afghan front by the Begistanl
the Chageh, and Koh-i-Sultan ranges, and the wide sand belt
south of the Gaud-i-Zirreh.