"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الجزء II. ج. ج. لوريمر. ١٩١٥" [‎٢‎٥‎٧‎٥] (١٢٦٢/١٠٩٢)

has been made above, had probably a salutary effect in deterring adven
turers from experiments in that quarter. In 1898 it was stated by
headmen of the Wazirs that most of the Gulf rifles in the possession
of their tribe—for even at that date there were some, thoug-h they had
not as yet been identified by the local officers —were such as, drifting
northwards from hand to hand, had reached the Helmand valley
in Afghanistan, and had been brought thence by Powinda traders to
Waziristan : they added that attempts had been made to bring arms by
direct caravan, meaning probably from the Makran coast, but had
failed.
Up to the beginning of 1898 the Afghan traders in arms seem to Growth of an
have resorted freely to Masqat and to have made their purchases in
person ; but, during the next few years, their orders were placed for the Bandar
most part with agents at Bandar Abbas. Some of these Afghans habi- 'Abbas 1898.
tually travelled to Bandar J Abbas by steamer from Karachi, at the time
of the annual spring migration of the Powindas from British to Afghan
territory, while others were accustomed to proceed thither in the autumn
months with large caravans of camels from the neighbourhood of
Ghazni—a custom of ancient standing, dependent on considerations
of general trade, but one which at this time lent itself to the develop
ment of the arms traffic. The leading spirit among the Afghans who
went to Bandar ^Abbas by land bringing their transport with them was,
at first, one Nur-ud-Din Khan, Lohani ; but, by 1903, the chief place
bad been taken by a certain Ghulam Khan, Nasir. The success of the
Afghans stimulated the Balfichis of the Khanu neighbourhood in
Rudbar to compete, and in 1903 the latter had. secured a considerable
share of the traffic. The arms ordered from Masqat by the Afghan and
Baluchi dealers were mostly smuggled in sailing craft to lonely places
on the coast near Bandar 'Abbas and Minab, where they were picked up
by the purchasers, and on the journey inland they were carried concealed
in camel-litters and in the framework of camel-saddles.
The bulk of the Afghan trade seems at this period to have passed Direction
across the Narmashir district to the east of Bam ; and, up to 1901, a very ^ J" ' e
northerly route into Afghanistan by Sistan and Mashhad appears to have BaIldar
been in favour. In the summer of that year, 26 rifles and a large quan- 'Abbas,
tity of ammunition were captured through the efforts of Colonel G. F.
Chenevix-Trench, then British Consul-General at Mashhad, from a
single Afghan caravan, Ghulam Khan, the dealer, being arrested and
sentenced to imprisonment in this case by the Consul-General ; this inci
dent, which made a great stir among the Afghan community at
Mashhad, was probably one cause among others of the trade subsequently
adopting a more southerly course.
At the end of 1901, as indicated in an earlier paragraph, there were Approaching
symptoms of the opening out of new channels through Makran, and transference
about this time two natives of Swat were seen at Sarbaz in Persian of the trade
Baluchistan, whither they had come in quest of rifles. But it did not "
appear that the westerly route through Narmashir had as jet been
superseded.
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