'The lands of the Eastern Caliphate Mesopotamia, Persia, and Central Asia from the Moslem conquest to the time of Timur' [‎298] (337/586)

298
FARS.
[CHAP. XX
The roads from Shiraz to Shahr-i-Babak and thence on to
Sirjan, one of the capitals of Kirman, followed two routes, one to
the north of Lake Bakhtigan, the other passing along the southern
shore of the lake. The northern route went first from Shiraz to
Istakhr (Persepolis), and from here to Shahr-i-Babak we have two
roads, one direct by Harat village, the other by Abadah city to
Sahik, where it joined the road along the southern shore of the
lake. This last left Shiraz, going eastward by the northern side
of Lake Mahal 11 to Khurramah, whence by the southern shore of
Bakhtigan it reached Khayrah. From here the Fdrs Namah
gives the distances of a branch road to Niriz and Kutruh. The
main road went from Khayrah to Great Sahik, where, as already
said, it was joined by the route from Istakhr along the northern
lake shore, and from Great Sahik it crossed a desert tract, going
north-east to Shahr-i-Babak. Both by the northern and the
southern shore ot Lake Bakhtigan full itineraries exist in the Arab
and Persian authorities, but the names of some of the intermediate
stages are uncertain, namely of villages that no longer exist at the
present day, for the whole of this country has gone out of culti
vation and become depopulated since the close of the middle-
ages 1 .
200. By the Winter Road'. Muk. 458. F. N. 84^. By the Yazd Road:
I. K. 51. 1st. 129. Muk. 457. F. N. 86b, Mst. 201.
The road via Harat : Muk. 455, 456, 457* The road via Abadah and
north lake shore: I. K. 53. Kud. 195. 1st. 130, 131. F. N. 84^. The
road via Khayrah and south lake shore I. K. 48. Muk. 455. F. N. 85 a.
Mst. 201. For the roads which centred in Sirjan, coming up from Fars, see
the next chapter, note 1, p. 302, and Chapter XXII, p. 320.