'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎138] (173/714)

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138
PERSIA
enclosure over sixty miles in circumference. The real value of
Kelat is as a basis of operations and starting point for offensive
movements against Transcaspia. Well guarded at the entrances
and held by a strong garrison, it might have been made, and might
still become, a veritable thorn in the side of an enemy stationed in
the Atek below. A hostile force quartered here might, for instance,
descend without warning and with overwhelming strength upon
the Transcaspian Railway, and cut the Russian line of communica
tion with the Caspian. But Persia is not the power to do any
thing one half so heroic; and Nadir's fortress is in the highest
degree unlikely ever to be made a sally-port against General
Annenkoft's railway. Should the Russians take Kelat, which they
appear to be excessively anixous to do, the gain to them in prestige
would be considerable; for ever since Nadir's days it has been looked
upon as the principal military outpost of Khorasan. They would
also acquire what might be made a suitable depot for stores, and
arsenal for a limited number of troops (neither the water nor the
grain supply would sustain many), and there would be the decided
negative advantage of preventing a position so formidable in the
hands of an enemy from falling into an enemy's hands. But as
an offensive measure against Khorasan I do not see that they
would profit thereby, as other and far simpler ways are open to them
of reaching Meshed, and as no modern army would trust itself to
the awful defiles that extend for quite forty miles between the two
places. In other words, the offensive eye of Kelat, so to speak,
looks northward not southward ; and, the march of power being in
the latter direction, it is unlikely that we shall again see it utilised
as a place of arms.
So much for the military value of Kelat-i-Nadiri. Let me now
say something about its interior features. How little was known
about it before the visits of Baker and MacGregor may be
illustrated by the scanty description furnished from hear
say by Eraser, who doubled both its length and breadth. 1 Entrance
to the interior is gained by one of five gates, of which the two
principal are Argawan Shah on the south and Nafta on the north.
The three others are Kushtani on the south-east, Chubast on the
west, and Dehcha on the north-west. All of these gates are said
to be fortified and defended by troops; of the two main entrances it
is undoubtedly true. There are also several footpaths (it is said
1 Vide Journey into Khorasan, Appendix B (1).
Its five