IOR/L/PS/7/47 ff.711-722

Description

Scope and content : Despatch from the Government of India, Foreign Department (Frontier) to the Secretary, Political and Secret Department, India Office, dated Simla 2 July 1886, forwarding for the attention of the Secretary of State for India, Herat Newsletters Nos. 48 (30 April), 50 (6 May), 51 (8 May), 56 (26 May) and 57 (28 May), written by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, British Newswriter at Herat.No. 48 reports arrival of Colonel Maclean, on special duty on the frontier, at Turbat, and also mentions the round-the-world cyclist Thomas Stevens: 'It is reported that an Englishman arrived on a bicycle at Turbat Isa Khan, remained there a few days, and then returned to Ghain. The man who brought letter says that the bicycle referred to is made of iron and steel and moves along by the rider moving his feet.'No. 51: 'On the evening of the 7th, the Sipah Salar sent me word by Ghulam Muhammad Khan, Mehmandar, that orders had been received to send away the bicyclist. I went to the Sipah Salar at 7 o'clock this morning and asked him the particulars. He said that he was sending Ahmed Ali Khan, Commandant, to tell Azim Khan, with whom the bicyclist is a guest,that he should take him to Turbat-i-Jam, avoiding habitations, and bring a receipt from the Hakim of that place, and that he should go via Pahra and Tirpul Karez. A letter was written to Azim Khan directing that the bicyclist should be made to ride on horseback and should not be allowed to talk to anyone, and that the sowarsd should not tell him the names of places, nor particulars about routes, and that the bicycle should be carried on a pony ... The Governor ... had already written that the bicyclist should be sent out of Afghan territory to that of Persia.'