d this length he
accomplished in seven days. Why should he have made the journey from
Kuh-benan to Tun, which is exactly double as far, in only eight days
instead of fourteen, when there was no necessity? And that he actually
travelled between Kuh-benan and Tunocain in eight days is evident, because
he mentions this number twice.

"He also says explicitly that during these eight days neither fruits nor
trees are to be seen, and that you have to carry both food and water. This
description is not true of the Naibend route, for in Naibend there are
excellent water, fine dates, and other fruits. Then there is Duhuk, which,
according to Sykes, is a very important village with an old fort and about
200 houses. After leaving Duhuk for the south, Sykes says: 'We continued
our journey, and were delighted to hear that at the next stage, too, there
was a village, proving that this section of the Lut is really quite
thickly populated.' [_Ten Thousand Miles in Persia_, p. 35.] This does not
agree at all with Marco Polo's description.

"I therefore consider it more probable that Marco Polo, as Sir Henry Yule
supposes, travelled either direct to Tebbes, or perhaps made a trifling
detour to the west, through the moderate-sized village Bahabad, for from
this village a direct caravan road runs to Tebbes, entirely through
desert. Marco Polo would then travel 150 miles in eight days compared with
103 miles in seven days between Kerman and Kuh-benan. He therefore
increased his speed by only 4 miles a day, and that is all necessary on
the route in question.

"Bahabad lies at a distance of 36 miles from Kubenan--all in a straight
line. And not till beyond Bahabad does the real desert begin.

"To show that a caravan road actually connects Tebbes with Bahabad, I have
inserted in the first and second columns of the following table the data I
obtained in Tebbes and Fahanunch, and in the third the names marked on the
'Map of Persia (in six sheets) compiled in the Simla Drawing Office of the
Survey of India, 1897.'

From Tebbes to Bahabad | From Fahanunch to Bahabad
1. Kurit . . . . . . . 4 | 2. Moghu . . . . . . . . 4-1/2
2. Moghu . . . . . . . 9 | 3. Sefid-ab . . . . . . 6
3. Sefid-ab . . . . . 6 | 4. Belucha . . . . . . . 5
4. Burch . . . . . . . 5 | 5. God-i-shah-taghi . . 6
5. God . . . . . . . . 5 | 6. Rizab . . . . . . . . 5
6. Rizab . . . . . . . 6 | 7.{Teng-i-Tebbes . . . . 4-1/2
7. Pudenum .