'Lord Curzon's Notes on Persia' [‎579r] (1159/1386)

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BETWEEN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND INDIA. 5
and a vast amount of work had yet to be done before anything like
regularity or efficiency was attained in the parts of the system not under
the direct control of the Indian Government. Strange as it may appear,
it was in Europe that by far the greatest difficulties existed. The lines
east of Constantinople—partly, no doubt, through the smallness of the
local traffic—were far more satisfactory than those to the westward. To
devise and urge on the most necessary ameliorations, Colonel Stewart
hurried to Constantinople as soon as the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. cable had been laid.
There, owing to the general injury to his constitution caused by the un
sparing manner in which he had for years overworked himself, he
succumbed to an attack of fever in January 1865. Colonel Goldsmid,
with whom was associated Major Champain, succeeded him as Director
in-Chief of what had now come to be designated the Indo-European
Telegraph Department, and I succeeded Major Champain as Director of
the Persian section, assisted by Captain (now Colonel Sir Oliver) St.
John, and the late Captain Pierson, both of the Royal Engineers, and by
a detachment of twelve, afterwards increased to twenty-four, non-commis
sioned officers of the corps. Our position had from our first landing at
Bushire, in the end of 1863, been extremely anomalous, as it will be
remembered that the Convention with Persia provided for no such
executive staff, but only for the presence of one English officer, with no
executive functions whatever.
It will probably, however, give a clearer idea of the subsequent
history of the telegraph if I here break the chronological order of the
narrative, and for a few minutes call your attention to the main physical
features of Persia and the general condition of the country at the time of
our arrival.
Physically, Persia may be described as a great plateau, overlooking
the Caspian Sea on the north, the plains of Mesopotamia on the west,
and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. on the south. To the north-west and to the east
the plateau extends into the Armenian provinces of Turkey and Russia
on the one side and into Afghanistan on the other. To reach the plateau,
the plains of which are at an average elevation of 4000 to 5000 feet
above the level of the sea, great mountain barriers must be surmounted,
no matter from what side the approach is made. On the side of the
Caspian, this barrier consists of a range of mountains known in Europe
as the chain of the Elburz—a name, however, which in Persia is applied
only to one particular mass of it near Teheran. On the side of
the valley of the Tigris and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , range after range run
ning in a general N.W. and S.E. direction, has to be crossed before the
main plateau is reached. The table-land itself is intersected
by numerous ranges and detached masses of mountains, except
in Eastern Persia, where great, plains are the main feature. W ith
the single exception of the provinces which lie between Elburz and
the Caspian, the climate is remarkably dry. Throughout the summer
little or no rain falls, there are few rivers other than mere freshets in
spring-time, and most of the agriculture is carried on by artificial irriga
tion, which depends chiefly for its supplies on the melting of the winter
snows. The temperature of the plateau is what one would expect to find
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