PREFACE ix
Whatever the reader's verdict on the text may be, he must acknowledge that the two maps are excellent. They have been drawn by Lieut.-Colonel A. H. Byström, who has spared neither time nor labour. The first map is intended to give a general sketch of Persia, and to show my route through the country. The special map is based on my 232 original sheets—of which, however, about fifty relating to Baluchistan are not available, for political reasons—and the latest English and German maps. A preliminary map in eleven sheets has been constructed in the Survey of India department from the original sheets. From the same original material Lieut.-Colonel Byström has, during the past year, compiled a detailed map on the scale I : 300,000, which will be published in seven sheets in a scientific work to be issued later. On these seven sheets is based the special map in this book.
In order that the map may be clear, only the more important names and the camping-places have been inserted. I cannot answer for the bounds of the desert, except those I have followed or crossed myself. In some places, as, for instance, in the north-west of the Kevir, they are uncertain. Besides the great desert belts, there are undoubtedly many smaller ones. Kevir expanses are exceedingly numerous in Eastern Persia. Most travellers who have visited the country have not considered it necessary to mark them on their route-maps.
Dr. Nils Ekholm has calculated the absolute heights, with his usual accuracy. A large number are inserted on the special map to render more apparent the relief of the country.
The rocks mentioned here and there in the text have been identified from the specimens brought home, by Anders Hennig, Lecturer in the Lund University.
With the exception of five, all the photographs are my own. The pencil drawings here reproduced may suffice
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