‘Persia – especially Seistan’ [‎104v] (207/949)

4
The valley of the Helraand from the Koh-i-Khan Nathin to Kala Kalh where it begins to
expand into a delta, before entering the Hamun or lake, may be briefly described as a narrow
alluvial plain about 2 miles wide, bounded on
So 1 believe, but they may be lacustrine deposits. si(ies by c ] a y scar p 8 and the desert. These
scarped banks vary from 300 ', near the Khan Nashin, to‘ 100 ' near the delta, and are merely
the river's own debris through which it has cut its present channel.
The existino- Khadir is fertile, but thinly inhabited by Baluchis, and only partially culti
vated by small Irrigation channels leading from the river whose general level is some 2U or 30
below that of the tilled land.
I estimate the total production of this strip of the valley in good seasons at about 5,000
tons of wheat and barley and an infinitesimal quantity of pulse and cotton.
Mv estimate is little better than a guess, but I don't think that it at present produces
double that quantity. The larger proportion of this is available for export, and the country is
capable of considerable development, but within the limits, it should be remembered, ot the
cultivable area, which cannot possibly exceed 100x2 miles, i.e., 200 square miles, and is not
(200 square mile, is smaller th.n the ordiaar, tah.il probably half this or say the s.ze of an ordinary
even in tlie highly cu.tivated districts of the United Indian tahsil. At the terminus, however, is
Provinces.) ° * Seistan and here we have an industrious popula
tion and a considerable area of cultivation. Probably 25,000 tons of grain would be available
for export yearly, perhaps under the stimulus of a railway all the available land would be
devoted to cotton-growing. An excellent class of cotton is grown in Bokhara, and the Russians
are introducing its cultivation along the Trans-Caspian Railway. It is m this direction that
the land and water at Seistan and the Helmand might be utilised to the fullest advantage.
There is land in sufficiency, the soil is good and the climate very similar to that of Central
Asia while the normal minimum discharge of the Helmand is not less than that of the Lower
Ganges Canal Commercially speaking, if the
Say 3 ,ooo to 4,000 c. ft. per second, about the same as country were ours, a railway to the Helmand
the New Jheium Canal. an( ^ Seistan would rank with that most profit
able line, the Wazirabad-Lyallpur Khannewal Branch, as a paying scheme.
Under existing circumstances, it is fruitless to consider the subject in any other light than
a possible strategic railway and then for reasons already stated it is possibly a less effectual
protection than a^flanking railway along the trade route. That point 1 leave to the military
authorities, merely adding that a further obvious consideration is that we can proceed with the
latter scheme, which is in our own territory and not with the former.
Bridging .—No bridging worth mentioning except some small flood openings over the Sora
which is a series of small spill channels where crossed.
Grades. Except at the Umlai section, of which I cannot speak definitely, 1-80 could
probably be obtained throughout.
Please return me the enclosed tracing after ferrotyping. It is an original made from
maps of which I have no copies.
If von keep this note and print the important parts, kindly send me a copy of what you
print (otherwise 1 may contradict myself).
If you do not want to print any of it, you might return me this note. It will be useful
to me hereafter in writing my report, but if you do print any, kindly have the proof properly
compared with manuscripts. I once saw a similar note of mine printed in your office, and the
mistakes made nonsense of the whole matter. I felt very sick of the hash of the thing.
I have no clerk to copy letters, and if I had, the subject is confidential. Nor have I
kept any copy or notes of what I have written. Time does not permit, hence my request for
a copy and the return of the tracing.
My formal report will presumably go to the Foreign Office.
Dated Nushki, the 10th April 1903 .
From—W. A. Johns, Esq. i
To— C. W. Hodson, Esq., Deputy Secretary and Director of Railway Construction
in the Public Works Department.
I have just got a wire from the Under-Secretary to the effect that you received my short
memorandum and plan of a railway from Nushki to Seistan via the Helmand. That is the
most direct route if Nasratahad or its neighbourhood is our objective, and you will have
understood from my report that with the exception of a short length through the fringe of the
Re dstan sands when turning the northern spur of the Chageh mountains, about which I cannot
speak confidently, the alignment and construction of a railway from Nushki to the bend of the
Helmand at Landi Wali Muhammad is a comparatively simple work, and that the descent of the
Helmand thence to Seistan is quite easy, while even the above mentioned short bit through the
sands which I was unable to traverse, appeared from observation to be perfectly feasible.