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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [156v] (315/1814)
The record is made up of 2 volumes with inserts (898 folios). It was created in 1892-1924. It was written in English, Urdu and German. 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.
166
KALAT-I-N AMKI
is ut Istagshu, some eight miles up the Kalat stream from Arghawan
Shah. This, as its waters are said to be red, I take to be an iron
spring. The natives, however, aver that it is undeniably poisonous,
and, mingling with the main stream, proves the cause of the fever,
ague, and other diseases so prevalent at Kalat in the autumn. By
others the unhealthiness of Kalat in the autumn is attributed to the
moist vapours arising from the rice fields and to the consumption of
water that has been used for irrigating the rice fields. Just outside
the Barwaza-i-Arghawan Shah rises the Karazu spring, the excellent
water of which was conveyed by Nadir in pipes to Gugumaz, four
miles off. This useful work of sanitation has long been out of repair.
It is one of the most interesting traces of Nadir’s work here.
I had expected to find the interior of Kalat more fertile and 1 more
cultivated than it is. The narrow valley, extending from Arghawan
Shah to below Gugumaz, is everywhere cultivated. The cultivation
consists of rice, wheat, lucerne, vineyards, orchards, melon, and
cucumber beds, etc. The level summits and gentler slopes of the
spurs throughout the whole interior of the fortress are cultivated as
daima, 01 rain land. Barley and wheat are produced in large quan
tities. Probably there are not less than twenty square miles of this
cultivation inside Kalat. The people also cultivate and pasture their
sheep in the valleys and mountain slopes immediately adjoining
Kalat. I was surprised to see so few flocks grazing inside the fortress,
and to find the grass as a rule so scant. Still the lucerne grown in the
valley and the wheat and barley straw of the daima supplementing
the natural grass growth of the hillsides should suffice for the support
of a large number of animals. The local products of grain, rice, etc.,
would go a long way to support a garrison of 5,000 men.
Camp Outside KalAt, July 6 , 1885
1 cannot praise too highly the kindness and hospitality that I
experienced at the hands of Sartip Abdullah Khan. I was lodged in
a spacious tent, with every convenience, in the midst of his garden.
I dined with him always, but owing to its being the Bamazan fast—
during which Mohammedans of rank spend most of the day in sleep
—I breakfasted alone. He could speak a little broken French, and
as he evidently preferred talking that language, we generally’ con
versed in it. The only thing I feel disposed to find fault with is that
his cook would insist on trying to imitate European cooking. Some
of his Peisian dishes were excellent, but his cuisiuo a VAnglaisc was
not palatable. I shall always look back with much pleasure to my
short stay in Kalat-i-Nadiri.
As a matter of course, in Kalat-i-Nadiri the relics of Nadir are
many. Firstly, there is the ingenious arrangement for conducting
About this item
- Content
These two volumes are George Curzon's own personal annotated copies of both volumes of his book Persia and the Persian Question , which was published in 1892. Alongside the volumes are various loose papers relating to Persia [Iran], consisting of the following: received correspondence; newspaper cuttings; publishers' press releases; cuttings from various booksellers' catalogues; various journal and magazine articles; two items of printed official British correspondence; several prints of photographs and sketches; and a few handwritten notes by Curzon.
In most cases these papers, which range in date from 1892 to 1924, relate to the chapters in the book where they were originally inserted, suggesting that they were kept by Curzon with the intention of using them to inform a revised edition of the book.
Of particular note among the small amount of correspondence are two letters received by Curzon in 1914 and 1915 from retired schoolmaster and Islamic scholar Sayyid Mazhar Hasan Musawi of Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India (ff 5-9 and ff 44-53). These letters, which are written in Urdu and are accompanied by English translations, discuss in detail several inaccuracies found in the Urdu version of Persia and the Persian Question .
The various prints of photographs and sketches, which were originally inserted into volume two, are of different locations in the Gulf region. Several of these appear to have been produced in preparation for the publication of the second volume of John Gordon Lorimer's Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , Oman and Central Arabia (i.e. the 'Geographical and Statistical' section) in 1908, as they are identical to the versions found in that volume.
Also of note among the loose papers are an illustrated article from Country Life dated 5 June 1920, entitled 'The People of Persia' (ff 36-37), and a printed family tree of the Shah of Persia [Aḥmad Shah Qājār], produced in preparation of his visit to Britain in 1919 (f 233).
Volume one of Persia and the Persian Question contains a map of Persia, Afghanistan and Beluchistan [Balochistan], which is folded inside the front cover (f 1).
The German language material consists of a publisher's press release for two books authored by German archaeologist Ernst Emil Herzfeld (ff 29-30).
- Extent and format
- 2 volumes with inserts (898 folios)
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: this shelfmark consists of two physical volumes. The foliation sequence commences at the first folio of volume one (1-463), and terminates at the last folio of volume two (ff 464-898); 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. Each volume contains a large number of loose leaves, which have been foliated in the order that they were inserted into the volume; for conservation reasons, these loose folios have been removed from the volume and stored separately. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers of the two volumes.
Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English, Urdu and German in Latin and Arabic script View the complete information for this record
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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [156v] (315/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213843.0x00007a> [accessed 7 June 2026]
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- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/33
- Title
- Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Questionby George Curzon, with Inserted Papers
- Pages
- 151r:157v
- Author
- Yate, Arthur Campbell
- Usage terms
- Public Domain