'Report on the Development of the Baluch-Persian Caravan Route and on the Nushki, Chagai and Western Sinjerani Districts, for the year 1899-1900' [‎13r] (25/64)

ON THE NUSHKI, CHAGAI AND WESTERN SINJERANI DISTRICTS, 1899-1900.
Chah, but I do not think that I am in error in estimating the saving in distance at from
12 to 15 miles. A sum o£ fis. 5,000 would suffice to cover not only the expenditure this
improvement would involve, but it would also meet the cost of providing water at stages of
every 10 miles between Quetta and the Persian Frontier.
52. The influence exerted by the new road is already making itself felt. Seistan cara
vans now show a tendency to abandon the road they used to follow running north of the
Gaud-i-Zirreh to Amir Chah and thence north of the Koh-i-Sultan range to Manzil, and
many caravans now strike the new road at Kirtaka. I am glad of this as there was always
a risk of the Afghan posts, on the Helmand, getting wind that a Persian caravan was passing
through the desert and making a sudden dash south and capturing it. In the course of the
last two years more than one case has come to my knowledge where this has actually occurred.
The direct road from Kirtaka to Seistan, west of the Goud-i-Zirreh, is open to the same
objection that it passes through a strip of Afghan territory, but a glance at the map, annexed
to this report, will show that the risk of capture along this road is very much less than it is
in the case of the old track north of the Goud-i-Zirreh. I have carried the katcha road as far
as Hurmak, 17 i miles beyond the frontier. To make the caravan road complete attention
must be paid to the section of the road between Hurmak and Warmal, the first village which
is met with in inhabited Seistan. The section of the road [ refer to lies beyond the frontier,
and is consequently without my jurisdiction. I would therefore venture to suggest that the
first duty entrusted to our Consul in Seistan should be the improvement of this section of road
by digging' wells and building posts at convenient intervals along it.*
53. I would here beg leave to bring the name of Syed Khan Mamasani f to favourable
notice in the hope that Government will grant him a monthly allowance. Syed Khan is the
head of the Mamasani Nomads who spend the summer months pasturing their flocks and herds
on the plains south of cultivated Seistan and the winter months in the Kaeha Koh, Lar Koh,
Koh-i-Malik-Siah hills. Syed Khan’s influence is great not only over the Nomads I name,
but also over the Nomads who inhabit the valley of the Helmand as far east as Rudbar. Maj or
Sykes placed this man in charge of the section of the road between Koh-i-Malik Siah and
Seistan, and he also made him responsible for the dak System of postal communication used in Moghul India and later by the East India Company. arrangements between Seistan and
Birjand. From the date on which Syed Khan assumed charge of his duties up to the present
he has done his work in a manner which reflects much credit on him. More than one instance
has come to my personal notice where Syed Khan has not hesitated to incur a personal
expenditure he was ill able to afford rather than let the duty entrusted to him suffer.
54. And now to deal in detail with the improvements and additions to the caravan route
west of Nushki, which the Public Works allotment granted by Government has enabled me
to carry out this year.
At Mall, the first stage west of Nushki, the additions take the form of a walled serai,
sufficiently spacious to accommodate two caravans, and a new well, 38 feet deep, fitted with a
windlass for drawing water and an iron trough for watering animals.
55. The accomodation at Kuchaki Chah was considered sufficient for the requirements of
caravans so all that has been done here has been to clear out the existing wells, deepen them,
and to sink one new well. The new well has been fitted with a watering trough and
windlass.
56. At Padag, the next stage west, two new wells have been dug and one of the new
wells which has a diameter of no less than ten feet, has been furnished with a windlass and
watering trough.
57. Two new wells, each 10 feet in diameter, have been sunk at Yadgar Chah and the
chowki there has been strengthened by the addition of a defensive tower. It has long been
mv intention to introduce cultivation by means of Persian wheels into the Chagai district. As
an experimental measure two wells at Yadgar and one well at Padag are being fitted with the
apparatus necessary to test this means of irrigation.
58. The new road passes at some little distance from the chowki which I built at
Karodak in 1898, so I found it necessary to erect another serai at this stage. A well dug at
•i safe distance from the nullah bed provides travellers with an abundant supply of pure water.
1 have fitted this well, as I have done the wells to the east, with facilities for drawing water
and watering animals.
59 At Dalbandin many important improvements and additions have been made. The
comfort of travellers has been secured by the erection of a spacious chaparkhana consisting
of five rooms, 18 x 16 feet, each having its own bath-room attached, a cook house, servants’
t carters and stabling for several horses. Caravans frequently make a halt at Dalbandin to
rest their animals; for the convenience of these I have provided a new serai, near the chapar-
khana This serai contains three good sized rooms and has a courtyard in front sufficiently
large to accomodate several caravans at a time.
1 have alluded, elsewhere in this report, to the difficulty which the shop-keepers stationed
at the several thanas along the caravan road experience in converting their grain into flour.
* Since writing this I hare received a letter from Major C. Trench, Her Britannic Majesty’s Consul in Seistan, in
which lie says that he has already made considerable progress towards doing this. The want of a shop at Girdi Talab
Tn charge of a paid Baniah is being much felt.
+ Vide Major Sykes’ diaries, also Major C. Trench’s letter No. 13 of 25th April 1900 to the address of the Agent
to the Governor-General in Baluchistan.