'MAP OF PERSIA, WITH A MEMORANDUM AND INDEX.' [‎5v] (15/57)

8
MEMORANDUM ON THE NEW MAT OF PERSIA.
Kuh Malek-i-Siah to the neighbourhood of Nushki—a boundary which
is doubtfully observed and can only be approximately ascertained ;
(e) the frontier of British India running from the neighbourhood of
Nushki via Chaman, to the Gomul Valley on the east fringe of my
map—a frontier which is as yet only tentatively defined, but which
indicates, with sufficient accuracy, the tribes and districts at present
brought under British sway.
(4) My fourth class of boundary, if a bull may be permitted, is a
blank. By no other means can I express the impalpable and non
existent border-line between the extreme points of Goldsmid’s Seistan
and Mekran delimitations. Most map-makers solve the difficulty by
drawing and colouring a straight line from the Kuh Malek-i-Siah to
Jalk; but this is absurd, and the Beluch nomads who wander over this
region, and profess either an alternating allegiance or none at all, would
scoff at the suggestion, and probably kidnap the innocent cartographer
who went out to ratify his theories on the spot.
In the first, second, and third of the above classes, where the
boundary follows the course of a river, it is not separately indicated,
but must be identified with the river channel.
Finally I come to the vexed question of Orthography. Here,
broadly speaking, I have observed the rules laid down by this Society;
i. e. I have retained the conventional spelling of such names (even if
strictly incorrect) as have been fixed by long custom, e. g. Bushire vice
Abu Sbehr, Meshed vice Mashhad, &c.; while vowels should ordinarily
be pronounced as in Italian, and consonants as in English. Subject to
these two conditions, I have tried to represent the native sounds with
as much accuracy as the very imperfect symbols of the English alphabet
will admit of, preferring on the whole to incur the charge of looseness
to that of pedantry. Such a system must result in an orthography
that is at times arbitrary, and that will not uniformly commend itself
to every student. It is difficult indeed to secure uniformity in a
country or countries where there are constant slight differences of
pronunciation or inflexions of tone, according to the language or
dialect locally in vogue; and the difficulty is increased in the
case of Persia by the fact that the Indian pronunciation of Persian
names, with which Englishmen are more apt to be familiar, is not