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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.
2
advanced stage of irrigation science We visited ^
STio^SoS ^’h^To^—n nitd their original
ss«iv - ^•twrsssaraf $s
citis-^ss ft^s’^crji’rs
toners in the perimeter of this place.) Divvalak (little nails) and so on.
The number and extent of the ruins, the architectural skill shown in heir
me num oer ., f a pjgp sca i e 0 f wealth and luxury which
the ground ’plans of the houses, and the size and height of some of the rooms
afford, bear silent and sad witness to a past prosperous, populous, and civilised
country, now hut seldom visited by man, where the silence of desolation
reigns supreme. .
Unlike the ruins to the south-west of this tract, now buried in whole or
in part, by slowly advancing waves of sand, the tract we were in to-day is
totally free of sand. _ . .
At the Amiran Ziarat. we visited the graves of poor Khan Bahadur Sheikh
Mohi-ud-din Khan and his survey khalassis. They now repose in very sacred
ground, for the Ziarat of Amiran, who is locally reputed to have been a first
cousin of the Prophet, is much venerated by the people of Afghan Seistan, who
make annual pilgrimages there.
"Wa rpf nrnpfl to Menu late in the
-Pf n Inrwr omrl
ing day’s ride.
As far as I can ascertain, no Europeans, not even the ubiquitous Conolly,
Perrier, or Christie, have ever before visited the tract we explored to-day. It
is but little known, even to the people of this country.
21st December—1 returned to the main camp at Deh Dost Muhammad.
To-day is the Id, and was observed with all due ceremony and festivity in
camp. On this one day of the year even the Seistanis don clean clothing and
try to forget the cares of a Seistan life.
I called on the Yamin-i-Nizam in the evening to pay him the compliments
of the day. I found him very friendly and cordial.
22nd December, Deh Dost Muhammad Khan of Herat, who was
sent here nearly two years ago to settle boundary disputes with the Persians,
and has acted hitherto as Assistant Afghan Commissioner, has made a bolt of it
and returned to Herat. The real reason for this is a natural desire to return
home, especially as the recent death of his brother has left some questions of
estate to be settled. The Akhundzada was afraid, on his own responsibility, to
give him leave to go back to Herat, even for a time. Musa Khan is also dis
satisfied with the allowance given to him, while on deputation, from the
Chakansur revenues, by the Akhundzada. Like an Afghan, he will try to excuse
his conduct by saying he was displeased with the Akhundzada’s treatment of
boundary questions and his extreme friendliness to us. I am very thankful
now that I managed to get Musa Khan’s signature to the letter to the Amir,
forwarding my award and recommending its acceptance. The Akhundzada is
taking his departure philosophically, and is mighty glad at heart to get rid of
him.
23rd December, Deh Dost Muhammad. —I forget to mention, in my diary
entry of the 20th instant, that careful ground plans of the more important
ruins, not only round Amiran, but in other parts of Seistan, have been made by
us. These may, hereafter, throw light on the comparative age of the various
different series of Seistan ruins.
24^ December, Deh Dost Muhammad. —The Akhundzada still has received
no reply from Kabul about my award. He has, I hear, written several times
urging the Amir to intimate his acceptance of .it without delay. The Persian
Commissioner, on the other hand, is constantly begging me to commence
demarcation as soon as possible. The anxiety shown, on both sides, to commence
and complete demarcation work, is a fairly accurate indication that the
boundary line pleases them both.
Captain Bamsay, with Messrs. Emmerson and MacMurray, Cooper and
Greensill have come out to camp from the city, to-day, to spend Xmas with us.
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' [149v] (298/782), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/352, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069721604.0x000065> [accessed 23 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