"الطرق في بلاد فارس. القسم III" [و‎‎١‎٩‎٠] (٧٣٩/٣٨٤)

@ ll
325
No. 169.
P achenau A kbaba, via
Authority — K ing ; "W ood (1890).
No.
of
stage.
DisiAircsi
IN MILES.
Bbmaeks.
Names of stages.
[nterrae-
diate.
Total.
1
B ekendi
26
26
From Pachinar to Akbaba there are two roads j
the one via Karza and Mazeran ; and the other
via Mula Ali and Bekendi. Of the two
routes, tbat of the Xarza is generally followed,
not less on account of its being the better route,
than that of its being the post road.
The roads divide within 400 yards of Pachinar,
the Karza one going to the left up the pass,
and the Bekendi one up the bed of a torrent, a
tributary of the Safed liud, which it joins below
Pachinar.
Again, in 1887, a road was made from Pachinar
to Bekend. Shortly after its construction, the
rains swept away the whole construction. The
road was never rebuilt, as what now exists of the
former one is merely a track, which caravans
occasionally follow when the Karza is blocked
with snow.
This track keeps to the bed of the torrent for the
first nine miles, as far as a small village, called
Mula Ali. Supplies to a very limited quantity
are procurable here-, but the houses are uninhabi
table, except by Persians.
For about the next two miles the road keeps along
the side of the mountains, and then again des
cends into the torrent bed. The road gradually
keeps ascending, is rough and very bad going for
the next 12 miles, keeping in a south-easterly
direction.
At about 12 miles from Mula Ali, the torrent
splits in two, one coming from the south-east and
the other from the north-east for a short distance,
and then almost north-west. The former is the
Hamadan route, and the latter the Bekendi
one.
It would seem as if one was marching back on a
parallel road, separated only by a mountain, for
at least two miles. The stream then takes an
easterly direction. Before reaching this point
the road goes through a very narrow gorge in the
mountains, so narrow in fact that a mule with a
good^load could just get through. On either
side there is sheer perpendicular rock of from two
to three hundred feet. This gorge or cut is about
half a mile long; on emerging from it the road
comes out on the open, and keeps in an easterly
direction into Bekendi.
The whole distance from Pachinar to Bekendi is
about 26 miles, seven hours' marching.
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