'Report on the Preliminary Survey of The Route for The Central Persia Telegraph Line from Quetta to Bam and Pahra' [‎65r] (134/162)

APPENDIX III.
Brief account of a journey from Quetta to Bam, vid Koh-i-Malik Seah j
thence to Gwadur, vid Ladis, and Pahra, by Mr. H. A. Armstrong,
Assistant Superintendent of Telegraphs.
I left Quetta on December 15th, 1900. The principal members of my
party were Sub-Inspector Ainuddin Khan of the Telegraph Department, Hospital
Assistant Mahomed Abdul Aziz of the Indian Medical Service, and Jemadar
Rahim Khan in charge of my escort of six Baluch levies. I was fortunate in
being able to travel part of my way in company with Messrs. Vredenburg, and
Curtis, of the Geological Survey and Telegraph’ Departments, respectively ;
with the former as far as Dalbandin, and with the latter to Nushki. We ex
perienced severe cold while on the Quetta plateau; the weather remained
broken for about 10 days after our departure from Quetta, and heavy rain and
sleet fell at intervals. In consequence of all this rain we had rather a novel ex
perience on the Quetta-Nushki-Siestan trade route in meeting with too much
w r ater on one or two occasions. Our march on January 2nd, between Yadgar and
Karodak, was a difficult one. In this vicinity there are several pat plains com
pletely surrounded by sandhills, and these acted as basins to collect rain water.
Some are from half a mile to one mile wide. As a rule, the best way of crossing
was to go around the edge, but occasionally it was necessary to wade through
the middle. The ground surface underneath the water had become liquid mud.
Horses struggled through this with difficulty, while camels progressed somewhat
in the form of amateur skaters. A camel is no doubt a good “ ship ” on dr>
land, but when his course lies through water, his position is not a happy one. and
his rate of progress, slow under most favourable conditions, then becomes almost
painful to look at, especially to the owner of his valuable load. All loads are,
of course, valuable on a desert, for if damaged, they cannot be replaced. How
ever we got through our difficulties all right on that day, without suffering
more serious inconveniences than wet feet, and a late dinner. A few sand storms
blew in that desolate region south and west of the Koh-i-Sultan, which made
travelling here for the time being somewhat unpleasant, but beyond this we had
an uneventful journey, and on the 22nd January 1900 reached Robat, the halting
place near Koh-i-Malik Seah, a mountain on whose summit is the boundary pillar
marking the junction of the three countries, Baluchistan, Afghanistan, and Persia.
Here we halted one day to collect guides to steer us across the Kerman desert.
From Robat to Bam there are two routes, one vid Nasratabad, and the other
vid Hyderabad. I travelled by the latter, and a description of it is given in
Appendix I. The country between Robat and Fahreh, about i 73 ~a miles, is a
barren waste, and practically uninhabited. A few hamlets are met at long
intervals, where roving families have settled down near some spring which gives
them enough supply of water to grow grain for their actual requirements. Some
travellers occasionally frequent the route, as appears from faint marks of a camel
track which exist in places. That the pursuits of these are not always peaceable
can be judged from a little incident which occurred on my arrival at Chama, the
3rd halting place south-west from Robat, where about 10 families live in gidans,
or little tents made of blankets and a few sticks, hidden away amongst some low
hills. Two women, seeing our advance party on some riding camels approach,
ran away in a great fright, and, without waiting to enquire what our object was,
apparently announced to their protectors that some Baluchis were coming to
raid their flocks. Soon we heard ominous shouts calling all the men to arms. I
went with Sub»Inspector Ainuddin Khan and a guide to explore. We found the
inhabitants of the little tents very disturbed, and hurriedly loading up all their
old guns. The mere presence of strangers in their vicinity appeared enough to
excite their fears, and suspicions. When, however, it was explained to them
that there were no raiders near, and that only a Sahib was passing through, they
become quieted, and shortly afterwards came to see our kit arrive, and sat
around watching the proceedings in our camp with apparent interest.
On February 4th, we arrived at Fahreh, the first village we met with since
leaving Nushki on December 27th, where ordinary supplies could be. procured.
It is situated on the south-west border of the Kerman desert; its inhabitants
number about 500, and a very poor and unhealthy lot they are. On February