'Report on The Mission to Seistan, by Surgeon-Major G. W. Brazier-Creagh, A.M.S [Army Medical Services] 1897.' [‎12r] (28/131)

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lS h g e ttmtksSl“S.° f ^ de8igManJ ^
N a T>W 0r R the P aSt f ? Ur ye f rs since the visit of Lieutenant the Honourable H D
foK^^T 1&U f C ^ haS been ^ ma ^st,as will be seen from whai
Perso /fai,! 8 x CtlV ^ y to ° 18 not limited to Seistan, but extends all along the
at nil A ii ghan froatier U P to M eshed, news-writers and agents being established
Turbat-lHalS ^ Neh ’ Bir i aild ’ Tabas^Kh^td
tfa. PetTATi^^^ 16 u Cti ° n > C ?'°Pf rati0n With the Tehran Court in having
t! -veiso-Afghan-Baluch routes closed “under the mantle of plague ” was a
mere subterfuge, a blow aimed at choking in it infancy our Indian’trade on
this side or the re-opening of the old Khorasan-Sind routes, and our endeavour
to resuscitate a arge trade which at one time actively prevailed with India
"difhaST ° 0USeqUmt °“ the h,,S ‘ il8 tariff 8 ia Russian Central
Sanitary posts and dak System of postal communication used in Moghul India and later by the East India Company. arrangements.—Amongst a community who were
perfectly apathetic as far as plague was concerned, I saw at the outset how
Hopeless it would be to rely on any official assistance, either for the establish
ment ot posts of observation or precautionary measures, and therefore deter
mined to act in this matter independently. My surmise on this head was
confirmed by the expression of a leading Baluch Sardar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. (with British sym
pathies) who paid me a secret visit a few days after arrival, viz., “ the verv
walls have ears, Sahib, and you dare not trust anyone.”
My first step was to secure the assistance of a reliable Baluch Sardar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division. and
Mulla, aod in conjunction with them I established a sanitary post of inspec-
tion under my own sowars at Girdi (half way between Seistan and Robat), at
Kulah-i-Nao, and Daulatabad, two important entrepdts on the southern borders
of Seistan.
By this arrangement I was, metaphorically speaking, “ killing two birds,”
etc., etc., as it ensured the safe and prompt transmission of my despatches
across the intervening desert to our frontier post at Robat.
Persian doctor's visit to Nasratabad.—On the day following Lieutenant
Webb-Ware’s departure from Seistan, a Persian doctor, named Abdul Rahim
Khan (said to have been trained in the Paris Medical Schools), arrived from
Tehran via Meshed at Nasratabad and stayed a few days.
At first it had been arranged that this doctor should accompany some
Russian officers from Meshed, but the latter not having reached Meshed in
time, the former came on alone.
He was reported to have been very pompous wffiile at the capital and to
have bullied the authorities for permitting English officers and men to come
into the country.
It was stated he was in Russian pay and had sent a lot of exaggerated
reports about the ravages of plague in Quetta and Kandahar, as also about the
magnitude of Lieutenant Webb-Ware’s expedition and the number of men he
had brought across the desert.
It afterwards transpired that in consequence of the Russian Legation
having got wind that an English army surgeon was deputed to Seistan, and
on the representations of Her Britannic Majesty’s Charge d’ Affaires at Tehran,
anent escort, etc., their tactics were altered, and a Russian medical officer w r as
ordered to visit the country in the place of Russian military officers wffio at
first were deputed to assist the Persians in the carrying out of quarantine
measui-es.
These Russian officers subsequently came to Birjand, where they remained
some considerable time, during and after the stay of the Russian medical
officer in Seistan.
In addition to the adverse influence exerted by the Naib-ul-Hakumat as
previously pointed out, one Mirza Muhammad Rahim Khan, otherwise known
as “ Khan Meshedi,” has for the past three years been, without any secrecy,
appointed news- writer The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping. in Seistan. In 1896, he was fined 50 krans by the
Deputy Sartip for a rape case committed by him in Hussainabad; having paid