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

of India, my application was transmitted by the British Foreign Office to
Tehrān, with the very gratifying result that after my return to Kashmīr 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 Tehrān, and to Monsieur A. Godard, Directeur des Anti-
quités en Iran.

Before it became possible for me to start work in the field from the south-
eastern corner of Persian Balūchistān a welcome opportunity offered for an
antiquarian tour in the north of the Panjāb 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 Panjāb, 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 Balūchistān and elsewhere, had shown me
the importance of adequate attention to all geographical facts bearing on ques-
tions 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 Īrān, it was of impor-
tance 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
Ayūb Khān.

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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