'ROUTES IN PERSIA, Section 1.' [‎192r] (388/416)

331
No. 9.
Kupha to Yazd, via Ushk and Nodushan.
Distances, in
miles.
No. of
stage.
Names of stages.
Inter
mediate.
Total.
Bemabks.
pass Sultanabad, a stnall village ; a haoz of sweet water at 5 miles. Shurab at 5^ inilos,
Faizabad at 6 miles and Sadikabad at 7 miles, all to the west of the road. At 7 miles
Haji Ramazan on the road. At 9| miles the main Shiraz road joins in, and so finishes the
large stretch of unexplored country. At 12 miles we pass through the^ large village of
Korasha, and after passing Mazra Nawab An honorific title; an official acting as a provincial deputy ruler in South Asia; or a significant Muslim landowner in nineteenth century India. at 14^ miles, and Mazra Misn Mahomed at 15
miles, we camp at 15f miles in a garden about a mile and-a-balf above Taft bazaar. We
bad descended 2,000 feet during the day, and so the climate felt very mild. Owing to being
in a narrow gorge, Taft is not as cool as its elevation would lead one to suppose.
At 1^ miles we passed through the bazaar, and
out into the nala bed, which is very stony. At
2| miles we clear Taft, and the hills end at 6
miles. At 3 miles Husseini to the west of the
road, with Mobarka and Cham to the east. Quitting the hills,‘^throush which we had seen
Yazd for some time, at 6|- miles we reached Zainabad, at 9| miles Bagh-i-Khan, and so on
through Khairabad, Aristan, and Dardaran to Yazd.
8
Yazd .
.1 14|
132
4,020'.
Note.—T he great advantage of this route for a summer campaign, compared with that via
Nain, is its altitude. Nowhere does the route sink to 5,000 feet, whereas by the other route
5.000 feet is nowhere reached. Taking the whole journey from Kashan to Yazd, if the direct
route from Natanz to Kupha be followed, this route is but a few miles longer. It is certainly
much rougher, and supplies are less plentiful, hut still, as an alternative route, it would he inva-
1 uable Columns using both roads need never lose touch of one another. To take the case of an
advance from Yazd on Isfahan, there is a route which hugs the Zamdah Rud, but it has three
desert marches before the fertile string of villages commencing with Varzunna be reached.
The route then by which I travelled would be much preferable, both on the score of supplies as
well as for climate, if the campaign were a summer one. The only road shewn on the map
from Yazd to Isfahan runs uid Nain, thus passing by two sides of a triangle, and so being
very much longer. The route I followed is used to a considerable ^extent by caravans, and, as
the brackish water did not seem to cause sickness, the route is not without importance,
especially as the Nain route has one or two stages with very bad water.
No. 10.
Natanz to Bagh-i-Robat.
Authority. —Sykes, 1895.
No. of
stages.
Names of stages.
Inter
mediate.
Shobgistan
Dibtancb, in
MILES.
15
Total.
15
Bbmabks.
Stony road with a slight ascent and descent to
Ab-i-Azan at 8 miles ; thence a second rise and fall
to ^borgistan, a large village of some 400 houses
with bad water.
2
Bagh-i-Robat
15
30
Bagh-i-Robat is reached at 15 miles.
At 5 miles Abbasabad, a small hamlet with ex
cellent water. Thence the road to Kupha branches
off. At 12 miles, hamlet of Pinavand, at 13^
miles Deh Zilu, and, with a continued descent
Supplies good, water indifferent.