ABC 014 — Camp Zakin
Two rows of white army tents (Swiss Cottage Tents) for the ABC officers. In the middle of the camp a flag-staff and some people: three Europeans, one Afghan and three Indians. In front of a tent on the right hand side, one of the British officers is playing with a dog, maybe the traditional mascot, a bulldog, whose duty it is to guard the flag-staff, which is mentioned by Captain Yate. As the ABC rested at Zakin for one day, the arrangement of the camp was probably more elaborated as usual.
Enlargement of the centre part.
Two rows of white army tents (Swiss Cottage Tents) for the ABC officers. In the middle of the camp a flag-staff and some people: three Europeans, one Afghan and three Indians. In front of a tent on the right hand side, one of the British officers is playing with a dog, maybe the traditional mascot, a bulldog, whose duty it is to guard the flag-staff, which is mentioned by Captain Yate. As the ABC rested at Zakin for one day, the arrangement of the camp was probably more elaborated as usual.
[List:] 14. Camp Zibgin with hill range.
- Owen, Charles (1884-86): Transcript of diary and letters, p. 104-105: “6 Nov. [1884] Halted at Zehgin. […] Colder today. I was out of sorts and very (illegible) all day long. Played tennis for a few moments in the afternoon. Air very clean. Really no time to arrange anything. Nearly set my tent on fire.”
- Yate, A.C. (1887): Travels with the Afghan Boundary Commission, pp. 11-12: “[…] Each officer of the Mission is to be allowed three camels for his private baggage, but it is not certain whether that is meant to include tents or not. […] All the English members of the Mission have been fitted out with Kashmir tents, 240 lb. in weight; while for the use of the British Commissionerand the mess on the frontier, large hill and double-poled tents and shamianahs have been procured. Nor has an adequate supply of mess furniture been overlooked. […]”; p. 15: “One of the most intricate cruces that is at present taxing the ingenuity of the transport officers of the Mission is how to convey the flag-staff to the frontier. It is a solid and weighty structure in three pieces, each about 16 feet long, so that the whole, when erected, will be about 45 feet high. It is to be hoped we shall experience no revival of the “flag question” which proved such an annoyance to Sir Fred. Goldsmid on the Seistan Boundary Commission. I must not omit to mention another important member of the Mission – viz., the Bull-dog that will keep watch at the foot of the British flag-staff. Such a guardian may be necessary, if it be true, as some suggest, that the British Lion will not be sent to support the Mission.”
- Peacocke, W (1887): Records of Intelligence Party ABC, Vol. 3, p. 41 (Nov. 5-7, 1884): “At 22 ½ miles, Zigin, a close but unfortified village, with several large fruit gardens and low-walled enclosures in outskirts. Five hundred male inhabitants, Tajiks and Afghans (Nurzais and Barakzais). A consirerable extend of cultivation and a considerable quantity of cattle and sheep. Three mills – one water, two wind. Water good and plentiful from a karez.”
- Adamec, L.W. (1975): Herat and north-western Afghanistan, p. 431: Zakin or Zikin.
Image No.
ABC 014
Collection
Afghan Boundary Commission 1884-86
Series
ABC 1, Photographs 001 to 057
Format
Sepia print, 152/203 mm
Quality
faded, margins faded, many mouldy spots
Place, date
Zakin, November 6 to 7, 1884
Descriptors
Latitude / Longitude32.637811 / 61.607430
Google Earth32°39ʹ N / 61°39ʹ E
Google Mapshttps://maps.google.com
Zoom Earthhttps://zoom.earth
Survey of India MapSheet 29, Herat (1916): Zakin, Y 44
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