!['Seistan' [‎201r] (401/782)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001452.0x0003bc/Mss Eur F111_352_0419.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "'Seistan' [‎201r] (401/782)")
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.
42 .
NOTES ON PERSUN SBISTAN.
, here and put a considerable area out of cultivation, which was
have c ^ le t J ’ fert iie. The Rud-i-Sheb-i-Ab flows through the centre,
^“overflowing ita banks among the sand-drifts, make movement for man and
b^sts very difflcnlt. Speaking generally the ground wdl be found more easily
. J iao a greater distance is reached from either the Halmand or the
beTds of the various main canals, the quantity of water to be crossed havmg
heads ot 1 ^ ^ wa ter of the canalshaving been drawn off for purposes
decreased i <, raz ing is found throughout, though more plentiful in,
eertaitfnlaees, wuIhave'Ufn noted in the accompanying sketch. South o
rt. cultivated area there appears to be nothing to prevent free movement of
whee“ed vehicles, and in the cultivated area itself, with the exception of the
tracts of country above referred to, the canals alone .mpede progress The
i^fund is everywhere open and level and by bridging the larger canals and
fording the smaller watercuts, troops and transport could move in any required
direction.
Points from which a view of the surrounding country can be obtained.
[These points are enumerated roughly speaking from north to south.]
As-i-Haji-Karim.
Tappa*i-Khamak.
Karkoh or Karkohshah.
Jelalabad.
Burj-i-Afghan.
Maliki (old ruin).
Jehanabad-i*Kohna (old rums).
Nad All (in Afghan territory).
Mil-i-Milak.
Zahidan (ruin near present village).
Darwaza-i- 13 akhtiari.
Tappa-i-Gon (£ mile north of Gon).
Koh.i-Khwajab.
Kundarak (ruins of old town).
Baghak.
Malik Haideri.
Sherifabad.
Ziarat-i-Mubammad Ah.
Shahvistan Hill.
Kimak.
Chilling.
Ziarat-i-Sabz Pir. . .
Khwajah Ahmad*i-Kohna (rum on small
hill).
Kohak.
Kala-i-Nau.
Ziarat-i-Derweish Kbimmar.
Sehkoba.
These points would serve as signalling stations, and any intermediate eta
tions required could be found on the roofs of houses in the larger v'UagM.
Bridges .—Only narrow bridges exist, strong enough to bear the 'T.'S t
a of a single loaded camel. Except in
Bridge*. kangi, and there only in sufficient
for local requirements, no timber is available for bridging purposes. C 0I %,
quently an adequate supply of spars and planks should be brought witu_anj,—
troops operating in Seistan. i , •
The depth of the majority of canals does not exceed 6 , a few only being
as much as 8' deep in flood time, the greatest depth I noted being 10 in the
Rnd-i-Seistan near Khwaja Ahmed; while the average breadth of the
larger canals is from 20 ' to 25 ', and of the smaller ones 12 to 15 .
Pontoons."—P ot bridging the main Ibranches of the Halmanu, it won..d
PontoonB. be advisable to bring pontoons.
The current is strong at flood time and the bed of the river soft mnu and
sand, which scours rapidly. After three days’ work at making an attempt to
cross the Rud-i-Parian with the Seistan Boundary Commission, iu March
1908 , by filling in the deep channel with loose fascines of tamarisk, a depth
of 6' was found to have scoured to a depth of 12, and work hui to be
suspended.
Tot
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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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