"سيستان، بلاد فارس وسيستان" [ظ‎‎٧‎٣] (٦١٧/١٥١)

and of encouraging the dCTe ' 0 P n ® "‘fevents may oblige us to move forward
maintenance of any force wh ^ those who y maintai that the country is a
to Chagai. To meet ‘ he ° D ) , f any but sma ll parties, basing’their security on
waterless desert and impassa ^ the best means of securing our flank
that supposition, and who rlpcert I consider it advisable to lay
in that fafas Roba" Mamu and Arbu is not!
stress on the fact that t ^^7^. nor is it impassible for troops, who, once
even at the P re£ent m °., ’ f degert south of the Helmand, have no very serious
'T'" 8 lobsTacks before them. d I would also remind them of the fact that, when
physical obstacles be _ r0 untrv as it now must be, the gradual
once peace and security '^t^^tiouifory^^as ^ and ' we | iu be
powerfosTto prevent this natural result, however, much we may wish to do so. It
fs wi e therefore to accept the inevitable and include the development
of the country in our other calculations connected with the defence of the
frontier.
n As regards (2) the opening up and protection of trade between Persia
9 ’ W F an d India. This is an important question
Opening up of Persian trade with India. an( j a E pttle consideration will show that it is
really one of Imperial interest. Seistan and Meshed are centres of a large trade,
which as far as India is concerned, has been of late years , owing to Afghan
taxation, closed to the Indian markets, except, m so far as communication
by sea via the Persian Gulf, has allowed it being carried on. The Indian
Merchants resident in Meshed have of late years, I understand, bitterly complain-
ed of the falling off of their trade with India, owing to^ the heavy customs
dues levied by the Afghans on all the direct routes that trade would naturally
follow. As a case in point and one which intimately concerns the Indian Military
authorities, let us take the trade m Persian horses from Meshed, w r hich at one
time appeared to offer very promising prospects in the matter of supplying good,
and cheap remounts for native cavalry. This trade is now absolutely closed. The
taxes levied on each horse brought from Meshed amounts, by the time Chaman is
reached, to no less than 15^ Cabul rupees. This amount, added to the cost
price of the horse, raises the sale price of the animal above the amount purchasers
are willing to give. Moreover traders complained that it was useless bringing
any but mediocre animals to India, as any of more than ordinary merit were
seized for little or no payment by the chiefs and headmen of Afghan towms en
route.
Whether traders travelled by the more direct routes through Afghanistan
proper and came via Khwaja Ali or Kandahar ; or whether they made a wide
detour South of the Helmand via Panihan, Galichah and other similar routes, the
results were the same. In the latter case they fell into the hands of the Amir’s
customs collectors either at Isa Tahir, Panih^n, Galichah, Scrap or Dalbandin.
The effect on trade has been disastrous. Now, however, the demarcation of
the Indo-Afghan boundary line to Persia has altered the whole aspect of
the case. The Afghan customs outposts have been withdrawn from Panihan
and Galichah and all other places South of our boundary line and their routes
are therefore now open to free trade. It has been maintained by various
authorities that the main trade route from Seistan follows the Shelag river
bed across. Afghan territory to Godar-i-Shah and thence across to Amir
Chah. . This theory was opposed to all 1 had ever learnt from Seistan traders
who said the main route ran just west of the Koh-i-Malik Siah. When I recently
visited Godar-i-Shah and Gumbaz-i-Shah, I found no signs of any frequented
trade route there. Moreover from that place to Amir Chah is a distance of 85
miies without a drop of water on the road. This fact in itself would go far to
piove tnat this route . cannot be extensively used. When, however, we
reached the Koh-i-Malik Siah, we found a large kafila road, immediately
jp j !£ ^' es t °I the Koh-i-Malik Siah, which passes by the Koh-i-Malik
Sian Ziarat. This route was evidently most extensively used, as proved most
undisputedly by the number of well worn camel tracks.. The octular and nasal
evidence of the frequent offerings of sheep and goats, made at the Koh-i-Malik
Siah Ziarat, by passing kafilas, gave every corroboration which the existence of
i re road itseff and the statements of the natives of the country might require.