'Seistan' [‎149r] (297/782)

/ 4 &
( Secret.)
Diary of Colonel A. H. McMahon, C.S.I., C.I.E., British Com^..
missioner, Seistan Arbitration Commission, for the
period ending the 24th December 1903.
17th December 1903, Deh Dost Muhammad. —The new passport system is
giving trouble, as doubtless it is intended to do. The Passport Mirza in Deh
Dost Muhammad is demanding passports from the Afghans who come to our
camp. A fee of 15 krans has to be paid for each passport. The Akhundzada
is very annoyed at this, and I hear he has seized two men of the Karai Regi
ment found on the Afghan side, and kept them in cnstoly in retaliation. It is,
of course, objectionable that any hindrance should be put in the way of Afghans
coming to and from this camp, as messages are interchanged between the
Akhundzada and this camp many times a day. I find, on enquiry from the
Yamin-i-Nizam, that the Passport officer of Seistan is working independently of
the Seistan authorities, and is not under the Governor or Karguzar, or even the
Customs officer. I sent a message to the Yamin, through Khan Bahadur
Maula Bakhsh, that I protest against passport restrictions being applied to any
one, Afghan or otherwise, connected with this Mission, and that the Passport
Mirza should be instructed accordingly. The Yamin replied that he would
telegraph to Meshed, asking that the passport system be held in abeyance on
this border while the Mission is here, and, in the meantime, he had asked the
Mirza to let Afghans alone.
A few days ago the head Passport officer informed Sharbat Khan, my
Sarishtedar in the city, that he had not intended to commence passport opera
tions in Seistan till after the Id, but that Dr. Miller and Mons. d’Hoedt had
urged him to start work at once. As far as I can see, the passport system has
been instituted in Seistan at the instigation of the Russians at either Tehran
or Meshed, with the object of causing annoyance and irritation on the Afghan
border, and especially in order to hamper the growing trade between Afghans
and our British and Indian traders in Seistan. It will be found very difficult,
if not altogether impossible, to enforce the system, because Afghan and Persian
Seistan are practically homogeneous. The cultivators on both sides belong to
the same tribes. A family has some of its members in Afghan and others in
Persian Seistan. No system of passports will prevent these people from going
backwards and forwards over the frontier, and any serious attempt to demand
passports and payment from them will lead to trouble.
18th December, Deh Dost Muhammad. —No news of importance.
19th December. —I started to-day on a long contemplated trip to visit the
country east of Kila Kang and south of Chakansur, which is one mass of old
ruins that run in one continuous line northwards, for over 50 miles, from Sar-o-
Tar. The Akhundzada has always expressed willingness to let us go there, but
the opportunity of going has not occurred before. Major Walters and Messrs.
Ward, Tate, and Landon accompanied me. Taking only a light camp with us,
we w T ent to-day about 21 miles through a splendidly rich, well-watered country
to Menu, wdiich is the nearest point to the ruins where water is obtainable.
The whole march was through either rich fields or tracts of jungle and
luxuriant grass.
20th December. —Starting early, we spent a long day riding over a wide flat
even plain of pat stretching eastwards to the Dasht-i-Margo. In whichever
direction one looked, and as far as the eye could see, were series and series of
massive old ruins. These were all in the form of high walled forts or towers,
some square, and others circular. Like other ruins in Seistan, these buildings
are composed of thick massive walls of mud brick, standing on foundations and
walls, to a height of 3 or 4 feet above the ground, of burnt brick and cement.
Many of the buildings are in an excellent state of preservation, but evidently
of great age. A series of large ancient canals and smaller irrigation channels
can be easily traced over the plain. The pakka masonry outlets for water
from these canals, and the remains of old masonry syphons, mark a very