"إستطلاع في بلوشستان وسيستان، ١٨٩٧" [و‎‎٦] (١٢٠/١٦)

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A Reconnaissance through Baluchistan and Seistan,
1897 .
CHAPTER I.
General Account of Journey Across the Baluchistan Desert.
■TO> loft Ouetta on the 6th April 1897, in accordance with telegraphic instructions
from the Foreign Department directing me to reach Seistan with the utmost expedition.
My party S and escort included Hospital Assistant Abas Ah, Surveyor *S ar
Bc „ KiV Sher Ali, clerk, Dafifadars Muhammad Azim Khan and Ghulam Haidar with
12'sowars "of the Sind Horse, Jamadar Jhanda Khan, with 15 Rustomzai llaluch ev e. ,
mounted on trotting camels. Sowar Mir Afghan, 9th Bengal Lancers (personal orderly),
f ° Ur “I^Ihki^miles) on the 9th April. Here I was forced to halt for one
day the local Sardars having intimated their desire to come in and salaam to me, as ah
Kort a recent raid that 0 had been committed, the result of a long-standing feudal
nnarrpl between the Rakshani and Zagar Mangal tribes. , . ;1
quarrel between^i tQ Dalbandin (122 miles) on the 15 h Apr
From here two routes were open to me, a northern one, vid Ismail, IVIera! Jhuh, Manz 1
and Amtr Chah, and a southern vid Asa, Zeh, Isa-Tahir Mash-Kiga, and Amalaf Phe
latter route, though somewhat longer, was chosen, as being the least known, and
SeqU ^^Barn™ 0 too^nmognLing the^nec^essity of finding out the best routes, and having
a complke reconnai s ’sance b and survey of those best suited for the deyelopment of our
commercial interests in this sphere, requested me to proceed by this little k o
mute unless some unforeseen obstacles arose to prevent my doing so.
^Sg Mbandin on the 17th April, having halted aaaytohiresoine ra
camels to carry water before facing the desert, we reached kuudi (134 miles) miiI.ou
“^^Thirthe first n secfio r n ll of the route, was over weird, arid and barren stretches of sandy
desert unrelieved by a single interesting feature. Nothing but a vast expanse of sant y
plaTn and sMtings, stretching away on afl sides, apparently without limit till lost in yellow
fiery haze and mirage. It°can be dismissed in very few words, having no advantages
whatever, strategical or otherwise, to recommend it. , n „ A Tni i (1 „x on
Pushing forward from Kundi on the 24th April we reached Kirtaka (131 miles) on
the 98th Amil having’ halted one day to explore the Amalat range. , ,
_ ThK, the second section of the route, is over a much better hoe, being hard pat
most of the way ; water, too, is procurable at reasonable intervals and is of better quality
than that met with on the first section of the route. strewn skirts
Startino- a^ain next morning we zig-zagged along the rugged, boulder-stre n .1
of the hillsf crossing numerous broad scours, the outlets ot the drainage from e
Miriawa, Racha, and Lar ranges. t j ont-v. AtmmI
J Our frontier post Robat (47J miles from Kirtaka) was reached on 30th Ap .
The intervening distance between Quetta and the Persian frontier, a distance of
5274 miles, was accomplished in 24 days, including five days’ halt, averaging — mi es per
daJ Thls^wf over e^eptbnally 1 bad going for the greater part of the journey, and in
excessive heat, with indifferent, not to say bad, water at long intervals, is a test ot what
our native cavalry and heavily-laden camel corps can do at a pinch.
The length of the marches varied, all distances from 12 to 43 miles^ being covered
each day and I had not a sore back amongst the animals on reaching Seistan.
Letters awaited me here from Sartip, Deputy Governor, and from Colonel . a ,