'ROUTES IN PERSIA, Section 1.' [‎131v] (267/416)

218
No. 40A.
Ispahan to Yazd. rid Ktijha .
No. of
stage.
Distance, in
MILES.
Names of stages.
Inter
mediate,
Total.
Rkmaeks.
them, by the side of the road, 4 miles from Bambiz, is a sugar-loaf-shaped peak, seen as a
clear landmark from a great distance on the ^ azd road. Bambiz is a village of perhaps 80 or
100 houses in the open plain, with no trees or gardens and but very little cultivation.
No caravansarai. At 2 miles in this stage a road branches off N. E. to Nain, 18| miles dis-
tant. It is good and passable for all arms, passing village of Himatabad at 6 miles
from bifurcation (Vaughan and Burton). Nain and Bambiz are both on the main Kashan-
Yazd route.
Nao Gumbaz .
4,230'.
12
108
I The road descends very gradually the whole
way over the slope from the foot of the hills.
At Naogumbaz we joined the direct post-road
, . . „ , , i from Tehran to Yazd, vid Kashan. There is a
good caravansarai of Shah Abbas, a post-house aud a walled enclosure, but no village.
Ihe water is salt, and there is almost no cultivation.
Akda or Agdu
3,890’.
26
134
Road over 12 miles of flat gravelly desert to a
newly built tank of rain-water. After halting for
breakfast, we continued our journey over a very
similar country, passing 4 miles from the tank
the new carayansarai of Chah Nao, and 7 miles further the village of Shahrabad. about 3
miles irom Akda, where we halted for the night. The road is over a flat desert the whole
way, until within a few miles of Akda, where the ground is much cut up with water
courses and Akda is a small walled town of somewhat picturesque appearance,
provided with a good post-house and a new caravansarai and telegraph office.
Four miles from Akda we pass on our left the
village of Shamsabad, containing some 20 or 30
houses ; and 3 miles further on a small tank,
- ' where a road branched off to our left. Two miles
from the tank another road leads, at an acute angle, to the right. Twelve miles from Akda
we arrived at the ruined caravansarai and deserted post-house of Chafta. The road from
Naogumbaz to Cbafta is over an extensive plain, with the Akda range about 8 or 10 miles to
the right, and high hills, some 20 miles, to the left. For the first 6 miles from Chafta
the road m level as before, and then crosses some undulating ground, with prominent
low hills to the right, which stand isolated in the middle of the plain. Some 9 miles from
Chafta, a road branches acutely to the left, leading in the direction of the small town of
Batru, about 4 or 5 miles from Maibut. From the point of bifurcation the road is flat and
Vj 1 7 Wl ^ m Z 1 miles of Maibut, whence it goes over ground much broken and cut up
with old kanats. At this part of the road the soil is well cultivated, and there are numerous
gardens. About a mile from the post-house we passed an old castellated-looking village on
our right, called Bideh.
Maibut .
31
165
3,630'.
Himatabad
3,740'.
16
181 Nearly the whole of the distance to-day the
road lay through villages and cultivation. For
the first 4 miles, as on the other side of Maibut,
,.£... . • fhe ground is very uneven, both naturally and
artmcially. Emerging from the broken ground, we passed a large village marked by a
cypi ess tree, about 2 miles to our left; 4 miles from Himatabad we passed on both sides of
the road, the ruins of what must have been an extensive town, and beyond it, on our left,
the large modern village of Shamsabad.
The first part of the way was along a heavy
sandy road, among low sandy hills; then came a
little cultivation at the village of Ashkizar, and
^ , then sand again up to within 5 or 6 miles of
Yazd, where we passed the village of Till Omar, and soon after a large village on our left,
with a crenelated castle. Thence to the town we crossed a hard dry plain.
10
Yazd
20
201
4,020'.