'ROUTES IN PERSIA, Section 1.' [‎38v] (81/416)

±2
No. 12.
Bandar Abbas to Bam, via Khanu.
No. of
stajre.
Distance, in
miles.
Names of stages.
Inter
mediate.
Total.
Remarks.
leads across a hard, stony plain, about 2 miles wide, lying at the foot of a range of barren
hills. This plain, a great camping ground for the Iliyats, appears to be a network of water
courses that carry off the water from the hills beyond. The path which was very narrow,
in some places only just wide enough for a mounted man, enters the hills by an opening
which is known as the commencement of the Gudar-i-Naurgun, and is the bed of a water
course filled with a considerable amount of pure, fresh water, and with many deep pools.
For 7 miles we rode along this rocky bed, till we ascended a higher plateau, from which we
could still catch a glimpse of the Sig-i-Jandan in the far horizon to the N.W. The constant
ascents and descents, added to the stony nature of the path, made this a most trying day’s
work for the horses.
The camping ground at Fariab, unusually good, dry and lofty, with excellent water and
abundant firewood, and shaded by fine jambul trees.
We again had to follow the bed of a water
course, until by a sharp turn the road led us
through a very steep and difficult pass (Gadar-i-
Shuran) to a high plateau on the summit of the
hills whose base we had been traversing.
From this point to our halting-place at Rudkhana-i-Duzdi (16 miles), we traversed an
undulating plain, clothed with the usual low brushwood. About 5 miles from the Gudar-i-
Shuran, we reached the small river known as the RMkhana-i-Ghishkan, so called from
the poisonous shrub (ghish or oleander) which fringes its banks, and is said to be fatal to
men, horses, and camels. Four miles beyond this river we came to a small hauz, or tank,
for the storage of rainwater, of great antiquity, and 7 miles further brought us to our camp
pitched on the N. side of the Duzdi river.
The village of Rudkhana-i-Duzdi, consisting of about 500 mud huts, lies in an amphi
theatre bounded by hills, and is surrounded by thick date plantations. For the alternative
road from Rudkhana-i-Duzdi via Ahmadi, see the next route, No. 13.
5
Rudkhana-i-
23
88
Duzdi.
1,680'.
Ispid
22
110
The valley narrows and passes between two
ranges of hills, that on the right known as the
Kuh-i-Garak, that on the left as the Diwan-i-
Murad, which is a somewhat lofty chain running
N. W. and S. E. The road to Bam or Jaruft passes by the left of these hills.
Khanu
1,580'.
12
122
From Khanu to Dosari, 37 miles, the road runs
over a fertile plain, and presents nothing worthy
of remark, save the range of snow-capped hills,
known equally by the name of the Dosari and
Jamal or Jabar Barid range, which present a truly magnificent appearance. Far away to the
S.E. lies the plain stretching to Bampur. The supply of water was excellent and abundant.
8
At 16 miles from Khanu the village of Soran
is passed.
At 4 miles the river Halil, the ban ks of which
are thickly fringed with tamarisk. The route from
hence again lay over the same plain—in this
direction bounded by the hills, which, running
from Jiruft, join the Deh Bakri and Dosari chain. At 8 miles (?) we passed a solitary hill
rising abruptly from tbe level of the plain called Kharpusht (or the Porcupine), from
whence we got a view of the snow-capped Ahmadi mountain, rearing its head. We.passed
occasional patches of cultivation, with clusters of leaf-built huts to the S. W.
Soran
16 | 138
Dosari
21 : 159