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'GENERAL REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY FOR THE YEAR 1865-66' [179v] (350/541)
The record is made up of 1 item (278 folios). It was created in 1865-1866. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
344
\Bombay^ indo-european telegraph department.
30. While halting for a day at Diarbekir a native of
India was brought in by the Mudir or head of the office
and presented to me as Haji Baba, an astrologer. I did not
much like his looks ; he might have been a mutineer, a
refugee, anything. To my thinking the face was that of a
ship-
lascar
A term used by the British officials to describe non-European sailors employed on East India Company ships.
, or little better, but the man had a wonderful
smattering of knowledge. He had no look of the higher-
class native. With a dash of the faquir there was somethino-
besides of the ordinary
munshi
A term used in the Middle East, Persia and South Asia to refer to a secretary, assistant or amanuensis. Munshis were employed in the British administration in the Gulf.
or teacher of Hindustani.
He had a dark and unmistakeable Indian skin and com-
plexion ; his long, oiled, and curved hair was combed down
behind the ears ; his manner was such as I have often seen
in Indians desirous to dazzle by displayof general knowledge.
He took occasion to show off his handwriting, and to talk of
officers whom he remembered, at least by name (Roberts and
Wray). I was puzzled to think who this man was, whence
came his fine clothes, and when and why he had left his native
country. His own story was that he lived in the Bendi
Bazaar at Bombay ; that he had quitted India about fourteen
or fifteen years before the annexation of the Punjaub ;that
he constantly travelled ; had visited Bokhara and Astrakhan
among other places, and had heard of Colonel Stoddart
though he knew little about him. His age might be thirty-
five, but it is hard to say exactly. They told me that he
practised as an astrologer, but took no money ; that he
appeared to have a sufficiency both of money and clothes.
He had seen and conversed with Mr. Taylor before he left
but that gentleman was away from Diarbekir at the period of
my visit. The man spoke Arabic awkwardly,but wellforan
Indian ; his Persian was Indian and fluent; his Hindustani
was naturally faultless.
31. Though Kharput is the name given to the tele
graph station, the real Kharput is
at about three miles , distance, at
Kharput.
32
About this item
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Annual administration report of the Bombay Presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. , providing a summary record of the main events and developments in each department of the Government of Bombay From c. 1668-1858, the East India Company’s administration in the city of Bombay [Mumbai] and western India. From 1858-1947, a subdivision of the British Raj. It was responsible for British relations with the Gulf and Red Sea regions. during the financial year 1865-66.
The report is divided into the following headings, some of which are further divided into sub-headings:
- ‘JUDICIAL’ (ff 7-30), consisting of: Legislative; Civil Justice; Court of Small Causes; Criminal Justice; Police; Jails
- ‘REVENUE’ (ff 31-42), consisting of: Land Revenue; Alienated Revenue; Income Tax; Customs, Salt and Opium
- ‘FINANCIAL’ (ff 43-50), consisting of: Finance; Mint; Paper Currency
- ‘POLITICAL’ (ff 51-58), consisting of: Political; Kattywar [Kathiawar]; Kutch [also known as Kachchh]; Rewankanta [Rewa Kanthar]; Khadeish; Surat; Sind [Sindh]; Aden; Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
- ‘PUBLIC WORKS’ (ff 59-117), consisting of: Military Army; Ordance; Commissariat; Military Finance Offices; Civil Buildings; Public Improvements
- ‘PUBLIC WORKS – RAILWAY’ (ff 118-134) consisting of: GIP [Great Indian Peninsular] Railway; BB and CI [Bombay, Baroda and Central Indian] Railway; Sind Railway; Indus Valley Survey; Indus Steam Flotilla
- ‘MILITARY’ (ff 135-161)
- ‘PENSIONERS’ COLONY AT CHALLISGAUM [Chalisgaon]’ (f 162)
- ‘INDO-EUROPEAN TELEGRAPH’ (ff 163-251). This section gives details on the Mekran [Makran] Coast and Musandam telegraph station. This section also has appendices: A (letter from Colonel Frederic John Goldsmid, Director in Chief of Indo-European Telegraph, and a report by Major Smith on the Island of Angaum [Hengam]); B (a report by Colonel Goldsmid of his journey through Turkish Arabia A term used by the British officials to describe the territory roughly corresponding to, but not coextensive with, modern-day Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire. [Ottoman Iraq] and Asia Minor [Turkey]); C (a letter from Colonel Goldsmid and reports by himself, Major Smith of the Royal Engineers, and Mr Johnstone, British Agent at Busrah [Basra], of the journey from Ispahan [Isfahan] to Gwadur [Gwadar] to survey the land for connecting the Persian [Iranian] and Mekran Coast land lines of the telegraph); and D (a letter from Colonel Goldsmid with enclosure proposing an alternative land line from Gwadur to join the main Persian line between Bushire [Bushehr] and Tehran).
- ‘PUBLIC INSTRUCTION’ (ff 252-258)
- ‘MEDICAL’ (ff 259-260)
- ‘SURVEYS’ (ff 261-265), consisting of: Revenue Survey; Topographical Survey
- ‘FORESTS’ (ff 266-268)
- ‘EMIGRATION’ (f 269)
- ‘MILLS’ (ff 270-272)
- ‘MUNICIPAL’ (ff 273-275)
- ‘ECCLESIASTICAL’ (ff 276-277)
- ‘COTTON FRAUDS DEPARTMENT’ (ff 278-279)
- ‘POPULATION, SIND’ (f 280)
- ‘AGRICULTURE, SIND’ (f 281).
A table of contents listing the headings and sub-headings of the report is on folios 5-6. There are two maps relating to surveys of the Indo-European Telegraph line.
- Extent and format
- 1 item (278 folios)
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- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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'GENERAL REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY FOR THE YEAR 1865-66' [179v] (350/541), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/V/10/280/1, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100137004134.0x0000a0> [accessed 8 August 2026]
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- Reference
- IOR/V/10/280/1
- Title
- 'GENERAL REPORT ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY FOR THE YEAR 1865-66'
- Pages
- 3r:29r, 30r:41r, 42r:90r, 91r:166r, 167r:235r, 236r, 237r, 238r, 239r, 240r, 241r, 242r, 243r, 244r, 245r:267r, 268r:270r, 271r, 272r:281v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence