National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

II

CHAP. XXII. p. 128.   THE DESERT OF KERMAN.   27

II., 1910, Chap. XL., and discusses our traveller's route between

Kuh-benan and Tabbas, pp. 71 seq. :

" As even Sykes, who travelled during several years through

Persia in all directions, cannot decide with full certainty whether

Marco Polo travelled by the western route through Tebbes or

the eastern through Naibend, it is easy to see how difficult it is

to choose between the two roads. I cannot cite the reasons Sir

Henry Yule brings forward in favour of the western route it

would take us too far. I will, instead, set forth the grounds of

my own conviction that Marco Polo used the direct caravan road

between Kuh-benan and Tebbes.

" The circumstance that the main road runs through Naibend

is no proof, for we find that Marco Polo, not only in Persia but

also in Central Asia, exhibited a sovereign contempt for all routes

that might be called convenient and secure.

" The distance between Kerman and Kuh-benan in a direct

line amounts to 103 miles. Marco Polo travelled over this

stretch in seven days, or barely r5 miles a day. From Kuh-

benan to Tebbes the distance is 150 miles, or fully 18 miles a

day for eight days. From Kuh-benan vid Naibend to Tun, the

distance is, on the other hand, 205 miles, or more than 25 miles

a day. In either case we can perceive from the forced marches

that after leaving Kuh-benan he came out into a country where

the distances between the wells became much greater.

" If he travelled by the eastern route he must have made

much longer day's journeys than on the western. On the eastern

route the distances between the wells were greater. Major Sykes

has himself travelled this way, and from his detailed description

we get the impression that it presented particular difficulties.

With a horse it is no great feat to ride 25 miles a day for eight

days, but it cannot be done with camels. That I rode 421 miles

a day between Hauz-i-Haji-Ramazan and Sadfe was because of

the danger from rain in the Kevir, and to continue such a forced

march for more than two days is scarcely conceivable. Un-

doubtedly Marco Polo used camels on his long journeys in

Eastern Persia, and even if he had been able to cover 205 miles

in eight days, he would not be obliged to do so, for on the

main road through Naibend and Duhuk to Tun there are

abundant opportunities of procuring water. Had he travelled

through Naibend, he would in any case have had no need to

hurry on so fast. He would probably keep to the same pace as

on the way from Kerman to Kuhrbenan, and this length he

accomplished in seven days. Why should he have made the