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Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [203r] (408/1814)
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.
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THE SEISTAN QUESTION
%£ S'' C' ^ c t ^ *
227
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however, a British officer exploring Western Belnchistan found
water two feet deep flowing down the Sarshela or Shela, and form
ing an extensive Hamun in dhe northern part of the Zirreh, which
was said to be over one hundred miles in circumference.
It will readily be understood from the above description how
variable is the face of Seistan, and what a puzzle to writers its
comparative sfeoefraphv becomes. For not only do the
Protean 1 o o i j «/
transfer- lakes alternately swell, recede, and disappear—the area
of displacement covering an extent, according to Baw-
linson, of one hundred miles in length by fifty miles in width—but
the rivers also are constantly shifting their beds, sometimes taking
a sudden fancy for what has hitherto been an artificial canal, but
which they soon succeed in converting into a very good imitation
of a natural channel, in order to perplex some geographer of
the future. It is not surprising, therefore, that while the country
owes to the abundant alluvium thus promiscuously showered upon
it its store of wealth and fertility, it also contains more ruined
cities and habitations than are perhaps to be found within a similar
space of ground anywhere in the world.
Such in brief outline is the physical conformation of Seistan.
I will now proceed to its history. From the earliest times there
Legendary ■* :Las b een something in Seistan that appealed vividly to
history the Persian imagination. The country was called Nimroz,
from a supposed connection with Nimrod, £ the mighty hunter ? ; it
was the residence of Jamshid, and the legendary birthplace of the
great Bustam, son of Zal, and fifth in descent from Jamshid.
King Arthur does not play as great a part in British legend as
does the heroic Bustam in the myths of Iran. For, after all,
Arthur was a mortal man (and, if we are to follow Tennyson,
almost a nineteenth century gentleman), while Bustam fought
Zirreh Desert on the south for two days and a half without finding a solitary pool
of brackish water. ‘ Nowhere was there the slightest sign of dampness. Every
where it was the same—nothing but sand, and all the vegetation as dry as bones*
crumbling into dust at the least touch.’ At length, and with great difficulty, he
did manage in one spot to extract a little fluid from the soil; and this was how, in
his inimitable unvarnished way, he described it: ‘If any should wish to save
themselves the trouble of going to Zirreh to fetch Zirreh water, I think I could
give a recipe, which would taste something like it. Take, then, the first nasty
looking water you can find, mix salt with it till you make it taste as nasty as it
looks, then impregnate it with gas from a London street-lamp, and add a little
bilge-water. Shake vigorously, and it is ready for use .’—Wanderings in Baloch-
istan, p. 183.
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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 [203r] (408/1814), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/33, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100157213844.0x00000f> [accessed 8 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
- 54r:135v, 147r:149v, 158r:180v, 183r:221v, 224r:224v, 227r:246v, 248r:257v, 259r:260v, 268r:362v, 364r:364v, 367r:388v, 390r:400v, 402r:416v, 419r:432v, 434r:444v, 448r:462v, 464r:471v, 475r:481v, 483r:513v, 516r:525v, 527r:544v, 546r:563v, 566r:598v, 600r:622v, 624r:656v, 658r:665v, 667r:675v, 678r:684v, 687r:688v, 691r:691v, 693r:693v, 695r:708v, 711r:721v, 724r:726v, 728r:729v, 731r:736v, 742r:742v, 746r:757v, 759r:761v, 763r:763v, 765r:765v, 772r:777v, 780r:789v, 793r:794v, 797r:809v, 811r:821v, 825r:840v, 843r:898v
- Author
- Curzon, George Nathaniel, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston
- Usage terms
- Public Domain