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

28

MARCO POLO.   VOL. I. BK. I

journey from Kuh-benan to Tun, which is exactly double as far,

in only eight days instead of fourteen, when there was no neces-

sity ? And that he actually travelled between Kuh-benan and

Tunocain in eight days is evident, because he mentions this

number twice.

" He also says explicitly that during these eight days neither

fruits nor trees are to be seen, and that you have to carry both

food and water. This description is not true of the Naibend

route, for in Naibend there are excellent water, fine dates, and

other fruits. Then there is Duhuk, which, according to Sykes,

is a very important village with an old fort and about 200 houses.

After leaving Duhuk for the south, Sykes says : ' We continued

our journey, and were delighted to hear that at the next stage, too,

there was a village, proving that this section of the Lut is really

quite thickly populated.' [Ten Thousand Miles in Persia, p. 35.]

This does not agree at all with Marco Polo's description.

" I therefore consider it more probable that Marco Polo, as

Sir Henry Yule supposes, travelled either direct to Tebbes, or

perhaps made a trifling détour to the west, through the moderate-

sized village Bahabad, for from this village a direct caravan road

runs to Tebbes, entirely through desert. Marco Polo would

then travel 150 miles in eight days compared with 103 miles in

seven days between Kerman and Kuh-benan. He therefore

increased his speed by only 4 miles a day, and that is all

necessary on the route in question.

" Bahabad lies at a distance of 36 miles from Kubenan all

in a straight line. And not till beyond Bahabad does the real

desert begin.

" To show that a caravan road actually connects Tebbes with

Bahabad, I have inserted in the first and second columns of the

following table the data I obtained in Tebbes and Fahanunch,

and in the third the names marked on the ` Map of Persia (in six

sheets) compiled in the Simla Drawing Office of the Survey of

India, 1897.'

From Tebbes to Bahabad.

From Fahanunch to Bahabad.

~. Kurit   .

2.  Moghu .

3.  Sefid-ab

4.  Burch .

5.  God   .

6.  Rizab .

7.  Pudenum

8.  Ser-i-julge

9.  Bahabad

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

•

.

.

.

2. Moghu .

3. Sefid-ab .

4. Belucha .

5. Godi-shah-taghi

6. Rizab   .   .

Pudé ebbes nun

8. Kheirabad

9. Bahabad

.

Farsakh .

•

•      4

•      9 6

•      5

•      5 6

8

•      4

•      4

•     51

Farsakh .

•

•     4i

•     6

•     5

6

•     5

•     42

•     42

•     4

•     4

•   432