‘Persia – especially Seistan’ [‎420r] (838/949)

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Dated Cawnpore, the 25th January 1905.
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Fr ° m ^Coraraerce, 4 ^ ■ ESq '’ Sec^et;ar J , to the UPP<* India Chamber of
To-The Deputy Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign Department.
Commercial Mission to Persia.
, * am dlr< J C f'' d t0 * land 7 0 ) 1 , oopp of the second report, dated 29th November
1904, received from Mr. A. G. Newcomen, and copies of letters, dated 30th
Member and 2nd December 1904, in connection therewith.
Dated Camp Saiidabad, the 29th November 1904,
From— Lieutenant-Colonel A. Gleadowe Newcomen, President
Mission, *
To A. Shakespeau, Esq., Acting Secretary to the Upper India
Commerce.
(^y~Y~crtsc
Commercial
Chamber of
I beg to report our arrival at Saiidabad, the capital of Sirjan, one of the
18 divisions of the province of Kerman.
We arrived here on the evening of the 25th, having been delayed five
days on the road by having to stop to collect supplies, when our route lay for
days across uninhabited wastes, and also by sickness, fever for the most part,
amongst the Mission staff, escort, and camp-followers, and lameness amongst
the horses, due to the abominable tracks along which we had to come. I
regret to state that Mr. Ryan has been down with fever. This sickness,
caused by the bad climate and water at the foot of the hills, as well as by the
extreme changes of temperature that occur between day and night, will, I hope,
cease now that we have reached the higher altitude of the table land.
We have received every assistance possible from the Persian officials on
our way up, and have had a safe journey.
On the 25th we were met near Kala-i-Sang, the ancient but now T abandoned
capital of the province, situated about 8 or 9 miles from here, by Sartip
Mirza Riza Khan, who has come down from Tehran to meet us. As we neared
Saiidabad, we were met on the road by the Governor’s istikbal, and conducted to
our camp in great pomp by a troop of mounted servants with led horses, and
attended b v an escort of over 200 armed men. It was bitterly cold, with driv
ing sleet, and the slow pace at which we were forced to move did not add to our
comfort, however much the escort may have added to our importance.
On the 27th Major Skyes, His Britannic Majesty’s Consul at Kerman, came
into Saiidabad, and we went to meet him three miles out, with an escort. The
same evening the Governor of Sirjan, with other officials, paid us a visit of
ceremony, which visit we returned yesterday evening.
Yesterday attempts were made to get information regarding the commerce
and manufactures of Sirjan. Our efforts, so far as the Kalantes or Mayor was
concerned, were rather futile, that official evidently looking upon some of the
questions with suspicion. Khan Bahadur Ashgar Ali, however, to whom
a copy of the questions had been given to put into Persian, induced the
Governor to give directions for the collection of the necessary information, and
this afternoon, fate and tbe Ramazan permitting, we hope to interview the
leading lov-al traders and collect some useful information.
We move on in a couple of days to Paris and Rafsinjan, whence we will
proceed to Kerman.
The weather is extremely cold, but has brightened again, and no more snow
is expected for some time.
The cholera at Kerman has abated, and the Persian officials and the
sian Consul, who bolted, are now returning.
Route. —Enclosed you will find (enclosure A) our itinerary from Bun er
>as, whence I last wrote you. For the first four stages ou rom un