Coll 28/28 ‘Persia. Perso-Baluchistan Frontier. Demarcation near Mirjawa.’ [‎52r] (114/658)

March) this Jalk water comes again to the surface, and is the support
of those Mashkel date-groves which formed the most important point of dis
cussion in the boundary demarcation. The origin of this extraordinary out
flow running to waste through cultivation and desert, uninfluenced apparently
by the local absence of rainfall which had failed for three years in succession,
is difficult to explain. It apparently never fails. The Siahan springs which
SU pply the Kalagan river and the karez of Isfandak lie in bilk of similar
configuration, and probably of the same geological formation as those of
31. From pillar No. 7 which may possibly secure some degree of perma
nence from the fact that it is buiit upon the ruins of what appears to be an
ancient sarai, the boundary was carried northward so as to separate the two
principal groups of date-groves, and ended with a short but sharp turn west
wards to its junction with the Talab river bed. Here some form of artificial
demarcation became a necessity. Stones were not to be had, so large mounds
of loose earth, sand, and brushwood -were constructed by Colonel Wahab and
Captain Kemball, in the hope that as they gradually resist the action of drift
ing sand in this wind-swept country, they may develop into well marked dunes
or hills, something different to the surrounding sand waves. A large section
of the Jalk population w r as turned out by the Asad-ud-Doulah to assist in tm ir
construction, so that their position is at least well understood, and may possi
bly be respected owing to the interest in their permanence of rival claimants
to the groves.
32. From the Talab river junction northward to the Malik Siah Koh the
nature of the boundary has already been described. It is happily one con
structed by nature w r hich cannot possibly be mistaken.
33. At the second meeting of the Commission at Jalk, on the 14th, this
section of the boundary passing through the date-groves to the Talab river,
and thence following watercourse and watershed to Malik Siah Koh was practi
cally decided. The Itisham showed no wish whatever to dispute this section,
and was quite prepared to accept, not only onr surveys, but our opinions as
to the advantages of the line adopted. No Persian official was sent to make
enquiries, and i was never even suggested that the local Governor ((1m Amir
of Kain) should be consulted in any way. This was cf course very satisfactory
to us and it only remained to decide the rights of ownership to the Mashkel
and the northern (or Muksotag) groups of date-groves respectively. It was
at this meeting that the Asad-ud-Doulah showed signs of a determination to
resist being saddled with the responsibility of controlling the Damam cultiva
tors of the northern groves, although persisting in maintaining their J ersian
status and their rights as cultivators. His objections were, however, lor the
time overruled.
34 Between the initial pillar at Kohuk and the junction of the Mashkel
boundary with the Talab river there are certain points of departure from the
line indicated in the agreement made between Her Majesty s Minister at
Tehran and the Shah’s Government, the reasons for which require explana-
85. A copy of the map forwarded to illustrate the Tehran agreement is
appended, together wuth a map on the same scale from the Indian surveyors,
showing the line finally adopted. It is difficult to make a valid companion
between maps differing so largely in important details, but from the two
together perhaps some idea may be formed as to the chief points of departure
from the Tehran line.
36. From pillar No. 2 (the position of which is absolutely fixed by the
Tehran agreement) the line is carried in a north-westerly, rather than westerly,
direction to the crest of the Siahan range, and is thence continued along the
watershed of that range westward to the neighbourhood of the Bonsar pass
instead of passing along the foot of its southern spurs. The possible necessity
for this deviation is contemplated in Sir M. Durand s lettei of the 30th
December.
37. It was found that there exists a number of small date-groves at the foot
of these southern spurs between Kohuk and Isfandak, the cultivation of which