PREFACE ix
of India, my application was transmitted by the British Foreign Office to Tehran, with the very gratifying result that after my return to Kashmir I learned, at the close of October 1931, of the requested permission having been granted by the Iranian Government.
After the preceding experience on Chinese ground I felt bound to appreciate doubly the enlightened spirit in which the Iranian Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Public Instruction had readily acceded to my requests. For this generous consideration and all the facilities accorded to me, both in the course of my journeys and subsequently with regard to the materials collected, I wish to record here my deep-felt gratitude. For effective help towards the favourable consideration of my application my warm thanks are due to Sir Reginald Hoare, H.B.M. Minister at Tehran, and to Monsieur A. Godard, Directeur des Antiquités en Iran.
Before it became possible for me to start work in the field from the southeastern corner of Persian Balûchistan a welcome opportunity offered for an antiquarian tour in the north of the Panj ab on ground of special attraction to me ever since my early service in that province. The main objects in view were the examination of two questions of ancient topography connected with Alexander's Indian campaign and a renewed visit to interesting old sites in the Salt Range described by Hsüan-tsang, the great Chinese Buddhist pilgrim. To Sir Geoffrey de Montmorency, late Governor of the Panjab, I feel sincerely indebted for kind help towards the administrative arrangements which facilitated this tour.
Prolonged experience gained on all my Central Asian expeditions, as well as in the course of my work in British Balûchistan and elsewhere, had shown me the importance of adequate attention to all geographical facts bearing on questions of ancient settlements and their history. For their study reference to exact topographical information is essential, and as such was known to be unavailable for the greater portion of the area I wished to examine in Iran, it was of importance to carry an accurate plane table survey along the routes followed by us. I therefore felt very grateful to the Survey of India Department when it agreed to depute with me an experienced Indian Surveyor in the person of Muhammad Ayûb Khan.
The results of the route surveys carried out by him under my direction with exemplary zeal and care, often under trying physical conditions, are embodied in the accompanying map-sheets. The drawing of these has been done with much care and skill by Mr. F. H. Milne, head draughtsman of the Royal Geographical Society, who, where needed, has supplemented these surveys executed on the
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