!['Seistan' [‎123r] (245/782)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0003bc/Mss Eur F111_352_0263.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "'Seistan' [‎123r] (245/782)")
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.
Its vulnerable points are south of Chageh; at Ekmach, where a track
crosses the mountains from Arbu; at Mushki Chah, near which place a caravan
road leads to Rudbar; and the portion nearest Robat.
With the assistance of a branch to Bund-i-Kamal Khan a small force
could operate very effectively against an army advancing up the Helmand.
^ Stations .—It would be premature to make any suggestions regarding
stations. . Probably there will be two watering stations; Dalbandin, a small
civil station, and the only bazar on the line; and Kondi, where the junction
with the railway to the coast would be.
Neither is very suitable, as the water-supply of both is deficient in quan
tity and bad in quality.
By purchasing the Dalbandin karez, and piping the water, enough would
be obtained for ordinary requirements. The wells at the Kondi Tkana are
slightly brackish and not very free-flowing.
Ekmach and the sandhill tract, where I believe the supply would be
adequate, are badly situated for changing stations.
Materials —Are non-existent except ballast and sand. The latter is not
always obtainable.
Bricks could be burnt with coal dust near Baghak.
Estimates .—Taking Bund-i-Seistan as our objective, purely for the pur
poses of comparison, it will be seen from the report on the Helmand route that
the cost of this line is rather less than that of the shorter route via the Helmand,
but the difference is inappreciable.
Rs.
(i) 344 ) miles of surface and light line from Nushki to Afghan
frontier, @ Rs. 55,000 per mile ... ... 1 , 89 , 20,000
22 miles heavy sand inside ditto, @ Rs. 1 , 00,000
P ermile ... ... ... ... 22 , 00,000
66 miles easy line ditto, @ Rs. 70,000 per mile 46 , 20,000
2 , 57 , 40,000 or, say,
21 crores in all.
(ii) From Nushki to Robat, 360 miles, @ Rs. 55,000 |per mile : Rs. 1 , 98 , 00 , 000 , or, say,
2 crores.
In the foregoing figures provision is made for 621b rails, steel trough
sleepers, a small amount of rolling-stock, with station arrangements and
quarters on a modest scale.
Programme for Survey and Construction .—Arrangements would entirely
depend upon whether the work had to be pushed or not. Under ordinary condi
tions, two strong survey parties could stake out the line to the Persian or Afghan
frontier in a full working season.
One should start at Nushki and the other at Ekmach. They should be
well equipped with transport and pakhals.
If the work were urgent, and construction had to be commenced without
* Two would be sufficient if a route free from sand delay, three SUrVCV parties* WOUld be
is obtained north of the sandhills. required. One at Nushki; one at Mull,
some thirty miles further on; and the third at the sandhills near Dalbandin.
Parties 1 and 2, as they finished their lengths, could either go on construction,
or take up new positions ahead, according to the rate plate-laying was progress
ing, and the start that party No. 3 had of railhead. Plate-laying could be
begun within a month of the first party’s taking the field.
The time occupied in completing the line to the frontier will entirely
depend upon the promptness with which permanent-way materials come to
hand, and upon the rate of plate-laying. With adequate arrangements Robat
could be reached in less than two years, a very moderate estimate.
In making this reconnaissance I was greatly assisted by information
kindly given me by Colonel McMahon, Mr. Tate of the Survey of India, and
Captain Webb Ware.
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' [123r] (245/782), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/352, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069721604.0x000030> [accessed 26 June 2026]
https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100069721604.0x000030
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_100069721604.0x000030">'Seistan' [‎123r] (245/782)</a> <a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100069721604.0x000030"> <img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0003bc/Mss Eur F111_352_0263.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