‘Persia – especially Seistan’ [‎103r] (204/949)

Dated Simla, the 28 th April 1903 .
From—C. W. Hodsoit, Esq., Deputy Secretary and Director of Railway Con
struction in the Public Works Department,
To L. W. Dane, Esq., Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign
Department.
I enclose herewith copies of two letters from Johns, which report what he is doing in the
way of railway reconnaissance in the direction of Seistan, in case you may care to see them.
I do not send the maps as these are being traced, and you probably have better general
maps than we have, from which you can pick out the general routes. But if you would like the
maps, I can send them over.
P'S —I suppose your Department will arrange to supply him with funds when he reaches
Karachi (see end of his second letter).
Dated Camp Saindaki, the 19 th March 1903 .
From—W. A. Johns, Esq.,
To—C. W. Hobson, Esq., Deputy Secretary and Director of Railway Construction
in the Public Works Department.
You may have thought it strange not to hear from me before ; but as there -was little to
say and nothing very important, I thought things wpuld keep till I submitted my formal
report.
There are many reasons for my altering this intention, but mainly that the journey before
me is still long, and it is not safe to run the risk of my information being delayed in reaching
you through delays in the journey, sickness or any other contingency. Please understand that
this letterls not a report, but only a general outline of what my report on the route we followed
to Seistan will be; and, to begin with, you will be glad to hear that I never was fitter, having
taken in my waist belt twice, and can no longer be reproached with fatness.
On the 1 st instant, I left the Mission at the Bund-i-Seistan on the borders of Persia, where
arbitration business was just going to begin, and there was no longer any need for my staying
with the party, as the country was dead flat, and would remain so during the demarcation
proceedings. I am returning via the trade route, which I struck yesterday from the Helmand
valley at Bund-i-Kamal Khan, and am halting here a day to write to you on my reconnaissance
from Nushki to the Helmand, and to McMahon about some information I collected for him in
the desert, where 1 did 5 days' halting and exploration en route.
From this to Nushki I am examining an alternative route from Persia to that I traversed
with the Mission, It follows the general alignment of the trade route, and so far does not
appear likely to present much difficulty except, perhaps, sand hills.
From Nushki I have arranged with McMahon to examine a possible alignment (apparently
the only possible one) from a point 100 miles south-east of this to Karachi. I hope to find
camels and escort ready for me at Nushki; those I have are too done up for further travelling,
and will strike my proposed alignment by taking a short cut from Nushki to the spot where
the difficult country begins. Meanwhile I am detaching one of my surveyors to carry the
line from its junction with the trade route to that point. I hope to reach Karachi by the end
of May, if the Nushki Tahsildar is successful in getting me the camels; otherwise I cannot
attempt it, as any delay will make the country impossible from the heat later on. There has
been so much vague talk about the simplicity of a line from Karachi to Seistan and Herat
(whereas I believe the job to be one of the greatest difficulty) that it appeared to McMahon
and myself that it was highly desirable that the country should be traversed by a competent
person rather than we should continue in this fancied security. I am on the spot, my pay
has to be paid somewhere, and the additional cost to Government would be Rs. 1,000 per
month for a couple of months. Last year some officer with Showers’s force that went to
Makran sent in a memorandum very favourably received in the highest quarters, I understand,
showing how easy it was to build a line through Makran.