Skip to item: of 302
Information about this record Back to top
Open in Universal viewer
Open in Mirador IIIF viewer

'Military Report of the Nushki-Chagai-Western Sinjarani Country' [‎68v] (141/302)

This item is part of

The record is made up of 1 volume (147 folios). It was created in 1904. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

Transcription

This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.

Apply page layout

122
The portion from Land! Muhammad Amin to Kala-i-Fath is a swift
flowing river, with an average velocity of nearly 3 miles an hour, an
average width of from 250 to 300 yards, and a depth of from 3^ to 4 feet.
The distance from one permanent bank to the other is about 1,000 yards,
and between these banks the river winds about and is constantly broken
up into three or four channels, separated by islands, many of which are
overgrown with tamarisk. This portion of the river can be forded
almost anywhere except when the river is in flood, i.e.. from about the
middle of March till the end of June.
The course of the main stream is very tortuous, and consequently the
distance by water from one place to another is very much greater than
by land. The banks are generally low-lying and covered with thick
tamarisk jungle varying from 8 to 10 feet in height. In places, however,
mostly on the right bank, the river flows under stretches of soft sand
stone cliffs, 60 to 80 feet high, close under which the water is from 7 to
10 feet deep.
. Between Landi Barechi and Rudbar the river flows directly under the
right bank, and the whole of this distance the bare cliffs rise up sheer
from the water’s edge.
At a point about 15 miles below Rudbar the road or track along the
left bank meets the river, a branch of which taking a bold curve to the
south meets the track which here forms a tangent to its curve. At this
point a discovery was made in the shape of an ancient bed of the
rtelmand which had formerly made a loop to the south. This old bed
proves conclusively that at onetime the river flowed fully 2^ feet above
its present level.
F fff u . ent bars oc cur in this portion of the river, but it is not till be
yond Mirabad that any of them would present any obstacle to a licrht
draught boat, as all of them have at least 18 inches o’f water passing over
them. Occasional stretches of water, from a quarter to half a mile in
length, where the river flows in one channel about 200 yards wide and
to 6 feet deep are met with, but they are exceptional.
Opposite Chahar Burjak there is a sudden drop in the river-bed and
the river contracts to a width of about 80 yards, and for a distance of
about a quarter of a mile there is from 8 to 10 feet of water and a very
T £ e r . iver then . widens out ra pidly and the depth decreases
Io\ver down ^ Urja ^ ls about three quarters of a mile
. B ^ twee p Mirabad and Kala-i-Fath the river broadens out immensely and
in places is quite half a mile wide and only about 6 inches deep, except
in the main channel where there is about 18 inches of water. The main
cnannel ,s here very tortuous and winds from one side of the river to the
t»er. I here are also numerous sand banks for a distance of about 2
miles which make the navigation of even a small boat very difficult.
The portion of the Helmand between Kala-i-Fath and the Band-i-
Prom Kaia-i-Fath to the Seistan differs in many respects widely to that
; already described. It is much less rapid; the
V eiocity ot the current, even in the swifter runs, is not more than 2^ miles
an nour and in the majority it is less than 2 miles an hour. It is, more
narrower and deeper and for the greater part of the distance i s

About this item

Content

A report, marked as secret, on the area of Nushki, Chagai, and Western Sinjarani. The report was compiled in the Intelligence Branch, Quarter Master General's Department. The report was commenced in 1897 by Captain R E Roome, 6th Bombay Cavalry (Jacob's Horse), and revised and completed by Major W C Walton, 104th Wellesley's Rifles, Deputy Assistant Quarter Master General in 1903. It was printed at the Government Central Printing Office, Simla, in 1904.

The report includes a preface by Colonel John E Nixon, Assistant Quarter Master General, Intelligence Branch (folio 5) and a glossary of vernacular terms used (folio 6). The main body of the report contains chapters on geography, communications, fortified posts and forts, climate, sanitation, resources, ethnography, history, administration, and military strength.

The second part of the report includes a gazetteer of topographical and ethnographic information (folios 36-127) and appendices covering wells, canals, and meteorology, and including a report on the signalling stations of the Dalbandin-Robat line, with sketches (folios 131-147).

The volume includes the following maps:

  • Map of Southern Baluchistan (folio 2)
  • Sketch Map of Signalling Line from Dalbandin to Robat (folio 148)
  • Map of Persian Seistan [Sistan] Cultivated Area (folio 149).
Extent and format
1 volume (147 folios)
Arrangement

The volume includes a table of contents (folios 5-6) with reference to the original pagination.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 149; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.

Written in
English in Latin script
View the complete information for this record

Use and share this item

Share this item
Cite this item in your research

'Military Report of the Nushki-Chagai-Western Sinjarani Country' [‎68v] (141/302), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/386, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100076627109.0x00008e> [accessed 2 January 2025]

Link to this item
Embed this item

Copy and paste the code below into your web page where you would like to embed the image.

<meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100076627109.0x00008e">'Military Report of the Nushki-Chagai-Western Sinjarani Country' [&lrm;68v] (141/302)</a>
<a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100076627109.0x00008e">
	<img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x000126/Mss Eur F111_386_0145.jp2/full/!280,240/0/default.jpg" alt="" />
</a>
IIIF details

This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x000126/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images

Use and reuse
Download this image