'Report on The Mission to Seistan, by Surgeon-Major G. W. Brazier-Creagh, A.M.S [Army Medical Services] 1897.' [‎15r] (34/131)

their own safety about which I had misgivings, consequent on the unsettled
state ot the country and the raids that were being' perpetrated at the time.
On the night of 25th August my post at Girdi situated on the desert
between Seistan and Kohat was attacked by a hand of Sarhadi badmashes; the
men were severely beaten and one camel and other property looted, vide Appen
dix A in Despatch No. 10, dated 28th August 1897, paragraph 16. This raid
was duly reported to the officials with a request that the stolen propertv
should be traced and returned.* 1 1J
I made this a legitimate excuse for another tour, and set off in pursuit of
the raiders of whose whereabouts I had got intelligence from a Balueh 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. .
Leaving Kosha Pain on 1st September we skirted the southern end of the
Hamoon and after three intensely hot and long marches crossing the Shelag salt
desert we were caught in a blinding saline blizzard which foiled all trace of the
gang we were in pursuit of who were but one march ahead of us. They even
tually entered the hills through the Baluchap nala where further pursuit was
hopeless.
Owing to delay caused by the blizzard which rendered all progress impos
sible we ran out of water, but a forced march in a north-west direction through
the bills on the west brought us to a spring ; this though highly impregnated
with deleterious matter was a welcome find, for we had nolens volens to^drink
the filthy and intensely saline water in the southern end of the Hamoon the effects
of which will not. be forgotten by us for many a day. I spent the following
three weeks in making a reconnaissance survey of the mountainous district on
the west of Seistan.
This district extending from Palang Koh on the north to Malik Siah Koh
on the south—which has an important strategical bearing on the defence of
Seistan—had not previously been explored ; I determined to survey and com
plete this reconnaissance before the withdrawal of the Mission from Seistan, and
it has now been completed.
We reached camp Kosha Pain on 26th September to find the main party all
well; they experienced no difficulties in the matter of supplies, Jaffar Khan, the
headman of the village, having carried out the trust imposed in him during my
absence, and willingly arranged for all the forage and supplies required. The
incessant hard work and responsibilities—almost too much for one hand—super-
added to other privations attendant on much rapid travelling in continuous
and extreme heat for the past seven months, now began to tell^—as may be sup
posed. I was here laid prostrate for some ten days with low fever and dysentery
as were others of the party.
During these unhappy days I received repeated attentions and kind visits
from the leading Sardars and Mullas.
* Up to the departure of the Mission from Seistan the officials were unable to trace the offenders. In future settle®
ment of affairs and counter-claims it would be as well to bear this raid in mind, so that indemnity be claimed.—B. C.