cusses our traveller's route between Kuh-benan and Tabbas, pp. 71
seq.:

"As even Sykes, who travelled during several years through Persia in all
directions, cannot decide with full certainty whether Marco Polo travelled
by the western route through Tebbes or the eastern through Naibend, it is
easy to see how difficult it is to choose between the two roads. I cannot
cite the reasons Sir Henry Yule brings forward in favour of the western
route--it would take us too far. I will, instead, set forth the grounds of
my own conviction that Marco Polo used the direct caravan road between
Kuh-benan and Tebbes.

"The circumstance that the main road runs through Naibend is no proof, for
we find that Marco Polo, not only in Persia but also in Central Asia,
exhibited a sovereign contempt for all routes that might be called
convenient and secure.

"The distance between Kerman and Kuh-benan in a direct line amounts to 103
miles. Marco Polo travelled over this stretch in seven days, or barely 15
miles a day. From Kuh-benan to Tebbes the distance is 150 miles, or fully
18 miles a day for eight days. From Kuh-benan via Naibend to Tun, the
distance is, on the other hand, 205 miles, or more than 25 miles a day. In
either case we can perceive from the forced marches that after leaving
Kuh-benan he came out into a country where the distances between the wells
became much greater.

"If he travelled by the eastern route he must have made much longer day's
journeys than on the western. On the eastern route the distances between
the wells were greater. Major Sykes has himself travelled this way, and
from his detailed description we get the impression that it presented
particular difficulties. With a horse it is no great feat to ride 25 miles
a day for eight days, but it cannot be done with camels. That I rode
42-1/2 miles a day between Hauz-i-Haji-Ramazan and Sadfe was because of the
danger from rain in the Kevir, and to continue such a forced march for more
than two days is scarcely conceivable. Undoubtedly Marco Polo used camels
on his long journeys in Eastern Persia, and even if he had been able to
cover 205 miles in eight days, he would not be obliged to do so, for on the
main road through Naibend and Duhuk to Tun there are abundant opportunities
of procuring water. Had he travelled through Naibend, he would in any case
have had no need to hurry on so fast. He would probably keep to the same
pace as on the way from Kerman to Kuh-benan, an