'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎223] (258/714)

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CHAPTER IX
THE SEISTAN QUESTION
And thou hast trod the sands of Seistan
And seen the River of Helmund, and the Lake
Of Zirrah.'
Matthew Arnold, So/irab and Rustuvi.
From Zultikar, upon the Heri Rud, the starting point of the new
Russo-Afghan Boundary of 1885-7, and the point accordingly where
Eastern Russlan > Afghan, and Persian territory all converge,
Persk 1 ' 0f the frontier of tl:ie l as t-named Power, running due south
almost upon the 61st parallel of longitude for a distance
of several hundred miles, is either only in part defined, doubt
fully defined, precariously observed, or not defined at all. The
entire distance from the Zulfikar Pass to the Indian Ocean at
G wetter is 700 miles in a straight line ; along which extent Persia
is brought into contact with two neighbours upon the east, with
neither of whom is she upon the best of terms, viz., Afghanistan
and Beluchistan. Disputes are constantly occurring with both of
these Powers as to the boundary-line; and encroachments, some
times ephemeral, in other cases permanent, are made upon terri
tories claimed by the other. Of the three nations concerned, the
most acquisitive, strange to say, appears to be Persia herself, 'she
perhaps thinks to console herself for forcible contraction upon
her north-west and north-east borders by a little surreptitious
expansion here.
The frontier-line of which I am speaking falls naturally into
four divisions, in each of which different degrees of stability and
i. Zulfikar differing political conditions prevail. The first of these
to Seistan c li v i s i ons i s the sect i on ruim i n g f rom Zulfikar to the
northern confines of Seistan, a total distance of nearly 300 miles.
Ev ei since Herat and its dependencies were severed from Khorasan,
a more or less recognised boundary has existed between the two
countries in these parts; but it has never been defined, and pro
vides material for recurrent disputes, arising as a rule from the
contested command or possession of water-courses, the most valu-