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‘Persia – especially Seistan’ [78r] (154/949)
The record is made up of 1 file (475 folios). It was created in 7 Nov 1901-23 Aug 1905. 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
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Appendix to Report on Helmand line.
Since my report was written, I have received a letter from Mr. Ward,
Executive Engineer with the Seistan Arbitration Commission. It is so full
of information regarding the crops and the country beyond Bund-i-Seistan
that I propose giving extracts from it, which are printed below in the form
of an Appendix to my report.
W. A. J.
“ After clearing an old channel of the Helmand near Dikdela, you rise on
to the high dasht you saw opposite Khoga (Bund-i-Seistan). I have been along
this dasht from Bund-i-Seistan to Kila-i-Nau; it is much cut up by big lakes,
but you could get a fair to an easy run down to the cultivated plain
of Kila-i-Nau. If you took your line to Nasratabad, you would probably
bridge the Rud-i-Seistan somewhere
between Burj-i-Sarband and Kila-i-Nau,
or cross higher at Shahristan. The
channel has in quite modern times carried
the whole Helmand. In 1839 when Connolly passed through, he was told
9 years ago it was the Helmand. Perrier found the main stream here in 1815.
This year in high flood it carried 6,000 to 8,000 cusecs. Near Shahristan it flows
in a narrow channel in the dasht. Perhaps you would bridge it at such
a place ”,
OcLshi-
Note. —Rud-i-Seistan is the main canal of Seistan,
I think.
See plan.
W. A. J.
“ Anyway there seems scope for doing it cheaply, but your bridge must
be big enough to pass the Helmand, should it choose to come back again.
“We gauged 70,000 cusecs in the Helmand this year, but the biggest
flood known was in 1885, when at Kila Path and Chahar Burjak the waters
extended from dasht to dasht, and no tamarisk was visible above the flood
waters. The Helmand has an enormous drainage area, about 60,000 square
miles, nearly, if not quite, half that of the Indus at^Attock.
“ I do not feel at home in discussing the question of how a railway should
clear the Hamun. * * * I do not think it is necessary to goto Nasratabad,
but it would suffice to cross the Hamun somewhere south of Koh-i-Khwaja.
“ You would need an embankment several miles long, and flood openings,
say \ a mile at a guess, over there; arrived on the other side you have to get up
a vertical cliff* about 50 feet high on to the dasht, which rises gradually to
Vide map. Bandan. We journeyed from Tabasin, 10
miles beyond Bandan,+ through Bandan
w. a. j. to Baring, and crossed the Hamun in
The road seemed to me to have an easy grade, and, at any rate, there
t Bandan is about 30 miles west of Hamun.
X A boat of reeds.
tutins.t
would be no difficulty in running out 1—100. You could also run out a gradient
to the Hamun level, but you would have some big cuts and banks. The Hamun is
About this item
- Content
This part contains papers mostly relating to British interests in Persia [Iran] and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
It includes a copy of the Board of Trade Commercial Intelligence Committee ‘Report received from Mr. H. W. Maclean, the Special Commissioner appointed by the Commercial Intelligence Committee of the Board of Trade, on the conditions and prospects of British trade in Persia.’
A handwritten note at the front of the file, on folio 5, states ‘Spare copy of notes & correspondence of the “Helmand Control” file (with maps)’. Folio 110 consists of handwritten notes, including one dated 27 April 1904, which states ‘The secret Helmand papers have been printed up, and a set, with necessary maps, is submitted for H.E. the Viceroy to take to England.’ Much of the file concerns the question of controlling the water of the Helmand river and irrigating its whole delta, and the work of the Seistan Arbitration Commission to arbitrate between Persia and Afghanistan on the question of rights to the water of the Helmand in Seistan.
The file also includes reports by W A Johns on reconnaissances of potential railway routes made while he was attached to the Seistan Arbitration Commission, and other papers relating to railways and roads in Persia.
In addition, the file includes copies of the following Government of India Foreign Department Proceedings, which reproduce received Foreign Department correspondence on the following subjects: ‘Selection of a British naval base in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .’, November 1901, Nos. 74-83; ‘Visit of His Excellency the Viceroy to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. during November-December 1903.’, February 1904, Nos. 33-127; ‘Establishment of telegraphic communication with Henjam. Question of the selection of a naval base in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . Aggressive action of the Persians at Tamb and Abu Musa; their claim to the Islands.’, June 1904, Nos. 300-388; ‘Reports of the Commercial Mission to Persia.’, June 1905, Nos. 45-111; ‘Question of retaining flagstaffs erected in the neighbourhood of the Musandim Promontory’, August 1905, Nos. 288-307.’
The file also includes: brief handwritten notes written by Curzon on headed paper belonging to the Viceregal Lodge, Simla, relating to Seistan and to Lord Kitchener’s planned reforms for the reorganisation and redistribution of the Indian Army; and a printed copy of the report ‘A Note by Major H.L. [Herbert Lionel] Showers, C.I.E., on the present state of affairs in Kelat and a review of the system of Administration now being pursued.’
The file includes four maps: ‘Map of the Tail waters of Helmand River’ (13 July 1903), f 122; ‘Plan Shewing Proposed Routes for a Railway from Nushki to Afghan Frontier near Robat’ (10 April 1903), f 139; ‘Extract from Admiralty Chart No. 753. (Entrance to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ).’ (October 1901), f 219; and ‘Sketch of route Ram Hormuz to Fellahieh.’ (April 1904), f 230.
- Extent and format
- 1 file (475 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in no apparent order, apart from the Government of India Foreign Department Proceedings, folios 231 to 474, which are arranged in chronological order.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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‘Persia – especially Seistan’ [78r] (154/949), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/359/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100093227828.0x00009b> [accessed 26 June 2026]
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- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/359/1
- Title
- ‘Persia – especially Seistan’
- Pages
- front, 2r:194v, 195v:196r, 197v:199v, 200v, 201v, 203r:272r, 273v:275v, 277r:405v, 408r:408v, 409v, 411r:413v, 414v:419v, 420v:424v, 425v:432v, 433v:435v, 436v, 437v:443v, 444v:471v, 473r:475v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence