'Report on Sistan and the Country Between It and Mashad' [‎24v] (53/118)

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In one place I came upon a little graveyard consisting of four parallel
lines, about 13 yards in length, of stones and marbles of all colours and of
curious shapes.
These pointed to some religion long prior to the Muhammadan era. Some
of them were well carved and beautifully polished.
The place looked as if it had been undisturbed for centuries. My
Baluch men had never seen it before and were much surprised.
There seems to have been a large city near this place, with the remains
of a gigantic wall , but the clay pram is broken up into such curious shapes
by tlVaction of the weather that it is difficult to distinguish where ruins
end and Nature begins.
All this country was watered from the Tarakun canal and its branches
down as far as Godar-i-Shah, where old canal-beds are still recognisable.
Being at a greater distance from the hamuns and the Naizar, the
climate should be better than in the more northern basin.
There are legends that Sistan once supported an army of six lakhs—
a large enough figure to make due allowance for oriental exaggeration, and
still leave a respectable margin.
Old manuscripts are said to exist at Nadali containing the ancient history
of Sistan, but I did not succeed in obtaining any.
About eight years ago it is said that water found its way into the old
channel of the Tarakun canal during a period of excessive flood and inundated
the country for some miles, so that the work of restoring it would probably
be easy.
The Afghans do not extend beyond a mile or two from the river at
isolated points such as Bandar and Budbar.
Should we find it necessary at some future period to adopt a more active
policy towards Sistan, the acquisition of this projecting
Future policy. strip of territory from Afghanistan would give us a pied a
terre from which without annexing any Persian territory we might be able to
frustrate the ambitious designs of Russia in this direction, and at the same
time secure our own position. To achieve this peaceably, it would be necessary
to convince the Persians of our friendly intention towards them by first
constructing suitable irrigation works in Sistan that would ensure them a
constant supply of water ; otherwise the reopening of the Tarakun canal
would raise the whole country against us in dread of a water famine.
Of course any schemes with regard to Sistan are dependent on the con
struction of a railway ; and seeing how absolutely essential the command of
the Helmund is to any development of the country, it appears to me that the
best and boldest line for the railway would be the one projected by Colonel
Holdich via Kharan, and passing along the north of the God-i-Zirreh.
Such a line is only exposed to attack from the Afghans on reaching the
Helmund. It would there pass along the high desert plateau overlooking
the river some hundred feet below, and could be easily defended.