"تقرير خان بهادور مولا بخش، الملحق بوكيل الحاكم العام للهند والقنصل العام البريطاني في خراسان وسيستان، عن رحلته من مشهد إلى كويته عبر تربت حيدريه، كاين، سيستان، كوه ملك سياه ونوشكي (٧ أبريل إلى ٢٨ يوليو ١٨٩٨)" [و‎‎٣‎٤] (١٥٦/٧٢)

ON HIS JOURNEY FROM MESHED TO QUETTA, 1893.
45
fair-looking, tall, strong, heavily-built man. who appeared to be weak in intellect,
and a simpleton. Without any hesitation I interrogated him most politely about
himself and his employer. The following are his replies to my questions :—
“ I am a Turk from Tabriz. My name is Ibadulla Beg. My father was a
native of Tabriz and my mother a Daghistani, whom he married in Baku. I
am a Persian subject and a servant of the Bersian Government, being a Naib
in the Mansur Cavalry of His Majesty the Shah at Teheran. My services are
often lent by the Persian Government to foreign travellers of different nation
alities in Persia. I do not know how to read or write Turki, Persian, or
Russian. I picked up Russian at Baku, where my father lived for some time.
My mother tongue is Turki and I picked up Persian at Teheran.
“I was sent by the Amin-ud-Dowleh, the Sadr-i-*Azam (Persian Prime
Minister) from Teheran to Meshed with a firman to the address of the Deputy
Governor of Sistan. I do not know the contents of the firman, but I think it
is an order appointing Sartip (Colonel) Mir Ma’sum Khan, Deputy Governor
of Sist&n, to be a Mir Panj (Brigadier-General) and independent Governor of
Sistan. I had orders to deliver the firman to the Governor-General of
Khurasan and then to accompany a Russian
See paragraph. 11,41,68,70, 74.and 116. officer fr()m Meshed to KirrEan tid
Sistan, my services having been asked for temporarily from the Persian
Government by the Russian Legation at Teheran. On arrival at Meshed at
the end of March I handed over the firman to the Prince Rukn-ud-Dowleh,
Governor-General of Khurasan and Sistan, who sent it to the Russian Consul-
General. A few days after my arrival at Meshed the Russian officer with
whom I am at present travelling and to whom my services have been lent
arrived there. The Bussian Consul-General made over the firman to the Rus
sian officer, and the latter is now carrying it with him for delivery to Sartip
Mir Ma’sum Khan.
“ This Russian officer is a Palkavnek (Colonel) in the Russian Army. He
has brought a Russian ‘Soldat’ (Infantry soldier) with him to act as his
private servant. The officer’s name is Nicholai Alexiech. He left St. Peters
burg towards the end of March and arrived at Meshed during the first week in
April. He did not put up in the Russian Consulate-General at Meshed, nor
v as he the guest of the Russian Consul-General. He took quarters in a caravan-
sarai where he lived during his short stay at Meshed, but he went to see the
Russian Consul-General several times. He left Meshed for Sistan towards the
middle of April. He has travelled via Turbat-i-Jam and Khaf. His transport
consists of 12 donkeys which he engaged at Meshed at the rate of a kran
each per diem. M. N icholai Alexiech rides one, his soldier servant another, while
I ride a third. The rest carry his boxes and baskets containing his ruathe-
matical instruments, bottles of spirit and empty phials for preserving insects,
reptiles, etc. He carries no tent or provisions with him, puts up anywhere and
lives anyhow he can.
“ We arrived at Bandan on the 20th May and are leaving for Sistan.
Nicholai Alexiech has been collecting specimens of insects, reptiles, and birds,
etc., on the road for the Government^Zoological gardens at St. Petersburg. He
intends to shoot in Sistan for about a month or so and then to go to Kirman
through the desert.”
Seeing that Ibadulla Beg being in a hurry to join his employer was getting
impatient and beginning to look upon me as very inquisitive, I did not oppiess
him with any further questions, and after making a civil apology for the
trouble I had given him, I let him go.
There is nothing startling in Ibadulla Beg’s statement, but the story of the
firman, or at least his guess of its contents, has excited my interest. If correct,
which is very unlikelv, it would show that the Russians have been canyingon a
deep intrigue against the Hashmat-ul-Mulk, Governor of Sistan, and have used
their influence at Teheran to cause him to be deprived of the government of
Sistan and his son and Deputy Governor to be promoted and appointed in is
place with the object of securing the latter’s sympathy and using him as a tool
in carrying out their designs.