'Report on the Preliminary Survey of The Route for The Central Persia Telegraph Line from Quetta to Bam and Pahra' [‎47v] (99/162)

12
If the trade route attains some permanent success, the maintenance of a
telegraph line from Quetta to the Persian Frontier, via Nushki, would be facili
tated thereby, but if, on the contrary, it proves a failure, or should at any time
be abandoned, the trouble and expense of maintaining a long line of communi-
cation through most difficult country would then all devolve on the Telegraph
Administration concerned. It is therefore most important in the present consi
deration to examine carefully the conditions under which the Nushki trade
route exists, and what its prospects in the luture are likely to be.. I will, in the
course of my remarks, take the liberty to refer to last year s Official Report* on
the development of the route (1899-1900) written by Captain Webb Ware,
Political Assistant, Chagai. Some of the statements contained in this are so
much at variance with what my knowledge of the.country is that I must venture
to disagree with them. My object is not to criticize, but, as Captain Webb
Ware very strongly advocates the extension of the telegraph system from
Nushki on to Kerman, and his report is in consequence likely to receive the at
tention it deserves in deciding on the alignment the Central Persian telegraph
line to India should follow, it appears to me expedient that some of his opinions
bearing on the subject, which are obviously open to question, should be noticed.
The Nushki-trade route. Its desert character.
21. In the first place, the country through which the trade route passes is,
for the most part, a desert in the fullest sense of the term, that is a barren, water
less tract. It contains no population, nor has it the means of supporting any.
West of Nushki District, in which I include a few huts around Baghak, 7 miles
distant, there is not a single village, or habitation, met with, except the trade
route posts, until Siestan is reached, a distance of over 465 miles. A few nomads
with some flocks of sheep and goats are occasionally to be seen, but only
at favourable seasons of the year. For the same distance, there exists practically
no cultivation. During my recent journey, wffiile marching from the Nushki
plain to Koh-i-Malik Seah, a distance of about 360 miles, the only fertile land I
saw consisted of about 2 acres near a small artificial karez, or water channel,
at Charsar, 83 miles west of Nushki, and about 3 acres at Makak ; the water-
supply from a few.small springs at this latter place is brackish, so that probably
cultivation is possible here only after a season of unusual rain, such as last winter
has been in Baluchistan. I was informed that north of Padag there is also
about 3 or 4 acres under cultivation after a favourable rainfall. Thus in a
vast area extending for about 360 miles east of Koh-i-Malik Seah,f and
several miles north and south of the trade route as far as one can see, the
total cultivated land amounts to a trifling quantity of less than, say. 10 acres.
'I here is no possibility of getting much more either. The country consists mostly
of. sterile ground, composed either of stones or sand; it lacks both sufficient
rainfall and the possibilities of irrigation. In the region between Chahsundan and
Saindak, extending south of the Koh-i-Sultan for 133J miles, the small quantity
of water met with, mostly at distances of over 20 miles apart, is so salt and
contaminated as to be altogether unfit for human consumption; and again
between Dalbandin and Mirui, 46 miles, the water obtained from wells at the
stages midway is brackish, and not good.
The character of this country as a desert is also very prominently marked by
its physical, and geological features. I have had an exceptional opportunity of
havmg these explained to me for m i898.1899 I had the pleasure of travelling
in company w.th Mr Vredenburg, of the Geological Survey, from Quetta to thf
his kind,feT!, ie H and !df"i in E ! e ^ emb I er last from Quetta to Dalbandin, and to
his kmdness and scientific knowledge I am indebted for much valuable instruc-
ton. 1 His officer has since written a very interesting memoir entitled “A
th? 0 °he 3 e ke t- Ch ° th£ Baluc . bistan Desert, and part of Eastern Persia. ” In
tanre the 11 JhNk S °f' le evi ^ n ces of the country’s scant rainfall ; for ins-
ofits’own em h! f ary , w ? 11 ra , arke ^. nver cour se possessing an individuality'
the water evanorn^d ex P la ' RS ( tha t‘h.s region is an area of inland drainage ;
theater evaporated from its surface does not all return in th e shape of rain, a
Sing*rani diittico.'for lhe^ 2 > r m iS^. 0 , f 9 l i e ? all “ :h P ' rslan caf< ' lvafl 'o' 1 *', and on the Nushki, ChagaUnd Wester.
t Desert area extends beyond Koh-i Malik d • e
part ol the Nttshki ttade route whic'h ”. SuSrituJ tUk.JT llisCUS5i,, ' !<,nljr **