"مجلد I مذكرات بخصوص بلاد فارس والمنطقة الحدودية الشمالية الغربية. ١٩٠٥." [ظ‎‎٧‎٤] (٣١٠/١٥٣)

[ '6 J
about the unrestricted import of arms and the
amount to be given as a gift. Mr. Dane
declined to agree to any alteration, and on the
24th the Amir signed the Treaty without quali
fication. The Amir has also addressed Mr.
Dane on certain subsidiary points. He has pro
mised to repair the British cemetery at
Sherpur. He has asked the Government
of India to appoint an arbitrator for the
settlement of the Musabad dispute. He has
nominated General Ghulam Hussain and
Sarhang Muhammad Hussain of Dhakka
to demarcate the undemarcated portion of the
Indo-Afghan border. He has promised not
to go beyond his father’s principles as regards
his intercourse with the Afridi and other tribes
in the British sphere of influence. He also
announced his intention of appointing seven
special touring officers for the settlement of
frontier disputes On the 24th March, after
the Treaty had been signed, Sardar Abdul
Kuddus explained to Khan Bahadur Maula
Bakhsh, the Native Attache of the Mission,
that the former hostile attitude of the Afghans
had been due to the non-payment of the
subsidy and the intimation that former engage
ments had ended. The Amir was, he con
tinued, now ready to discuss anything, and
would have done so but for the attitude of the
Afghan people who were alarmed at the
prolonged stay of the Mission. As a token
of his friendship now, the Amir had improved
the position accorded to the British Envoy
in Durbar. The next day the Mission
attended a formal Durbar, where the Treaty
was read out in the presence of over 2,000
persons, and a congratulatory address was
presented to the Amir on behalf of the
Afghan nation. The Amir and Mr. Dane
both made short speeches. The officers of the
Mission were accorded every possible honour,
being conducted to the Durbar by Sardar
Nasrulla Khan in person. The British Agent
was given the 7 th place in the Durbar. After
a friendly leave-taking of the Amir, the Mission
left Kabul for Peshawar on the 29th March.
The dispute about the island in the Oxus,
near Yangi Kila (see last Journal), appears to
have arisen over a change in the course of the
main stream of the Oxus. It is stated that the
main stream formerly ran on the south side
of the island, but a few years ago it turned
north, and the lands in dispute, which are kown
by the name of Buz, were left on the Afghan
side of it. The Afghans of Yangi Kila and
Kustak then began to take fire-wood from, and
graze their sheep on, the lands of Buz. ’ The
Kussians recently occupied these lands,'estab
lished a post, and sent sheep to graze on them
alleging that they were allotted to the Russian
Government at the time of demarcation. The
Russian soldiers have, however, since been
withdrawn, but have left some stores behind
them with villagers to watch them.