'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎232] (267/714)

. it •
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PERSIA
the region between the Naizar on the north and the main lateral
canal taken from the Helmnnd, in order to irrigate Sekuha and
Partition the neighbouring villages on the south, and extending*
of Keistan from the old and true bed of" the Helmund on the east,
to the fringe of the Hamun and the Kuh-i-Khwajah on the west.
This area he estimated at 950 square miles, and its population at
45,000, 20,000 of whom were Seistanis, 1 15,000 Persian-speaking
settlers, and 10,000 Beluchi nomads. Outer Seistan was the
country on the right bank of the Helmund from its lake-mouth on
the north to Kudbar on its upper waters on the south. His
decision may be summarised thus. He gave Seistan Proper to
Persia, and Outer Seistan to Afghanistan. The boundarv between
the two was drawn as follows: From the Siah Kuh (Black Moun
tain), which is the eastern boundary of the Persian district of
Nehbandan, along the southern fringe of the Naizar to the left
bank of the Helmund; thence up the river to a point about a mile
above the great hnnd or dam at Kohak ; 2 after which it consists of
a line drawn from this point in a south-westerly direction to the
range Kuh-Malek-i-Siah. which is the northerly continuation of a
line of mountains that bound the Zirreh desert upon the west.
Heic the district of Seistan terminated, and the award was con
cluded. South of this point is the indeterminate and unobserved
line to Jalk which I have previously mentioned.
Hampered as he was by instructions almost incapable of
execution, impeded by systematic obstruction, and owing a definite
Indepen- issue only to the foresight which induced him to complete
dent local surveys before the Indian members of the
opinion . . ^
mission appeared upon the scene, General Goldsmid may
be congratulated upon having been able to formulate a decision
at all. To the independent observer it undoubtedly appears
that the Persians were the gainers by his award; for they
Meshed by Seistan,' published in the Journal of the R.G.S., vol. xliii. pp. 65-83
(1873).
1 Sir H. Rawlinson says: ' The true Seistanis are Persians of the purest Arian
type. In fact, the only true representatives of the old Arian race to be found in
Persia are the Seistanis and the Jamshidis of Herat; the language, physical
appearance, and general characteristics of the Persians of the Achagmenian period
being better preserved in this outlying corner of the Empire than in any other
locality.'
• This dam, known indifferently as the Amir's, the Seistan, and the Kohak
Bund, is a great dyke built across the river with tamarisk branches, stakes, and
rammed clay, in order to divert its principal volume into the Sekuha Canal.