"الطرق في بلاد فارس. (المجلد I.) (خراسان وسيستان.)" [ظ‎‎٦‎٤] (٥٣٦/١٣٣)

Route No. IV — contd.
5 KHUSHKRUD .. 36 m. General direction SW.
* (or Run). The road runs up a
109 (1,840'). dry water-course to
1 mile. At 5 miles pass Mihibaht, an isolated conical knoll
on the right. At 12 miles pass a jagged black rock called the
Kuh-i-Bakhtu. Over a plain of fine gravel and sand to Khushk
Rud, a dry water-course, width about 50 to 60 yards.
Water .—
Fuel .—
Fodder .—
Supplies .—
6 TABASIN .. 23 m. General direction S.
(1,980'). Over level gravelly
132 fottoGaud-i-Namak
at 4 miles. Thence level lut to 15 miles, after which the route
runs over 5 miles of very fatiguing kavir. Tabasin at 23 miles.
Water, etc.— Nil.
7 GUDAR-I-BARtlT 19 m. General direction S,
ob BAGH-I-ASAD Over level ground
151 (1,160'). with a few dry
channels to 9 miles. Gentle descent to 14 miles to the
bottom of a shallow depression, clay with saline incrusta
tions. Steady ascent for 4 miles. A steep and narrow pathway
leads to the top of some clay bluffs bordering the Rud-i-Shur.
A steep descent to the river-bed, a fiat expanse of mud, about
300 yards wide, enclosed by perpendicular clay banks, 50 to
60 feet high. The river flows through the mud in a channel,
10 to 12 feet wide, often in two or more divisions, with a strong
current. The mud is very cracked and fissured and great care
must be exercised in crossing. In parts men will often sink
up to the waist.
Water. —River is of the strongest brine, more salt than sea
water.
Supplies, etc. — Nil.
8 DEH SAIF .. 28 m. General direction S»
For about 4 miles
179 the road runs
through a narrow defile, between continuous clay ridges, about
30 feet high. Then over a level desert, of clay with a