Major Sykes, ch. xxiii.) - H. C.]
NOTE 2. - This description of the Desert of Kerman, says Mr. Khanikoff, "is
very correct. As the only place in the Desert of Lut where water is found
is the dirty, salt, bitter, and green water of the rivulet called
Shor-Rud (the Salt River), we can have no doubt of the direction of Marco
Polo's route from Kerman so far." Nevertheless I do not agree with
Khanikoff that the route lay N.E. in the direction of Ambar and Kain, for a
reason which will appear under the next chapter. I imagine the route to
have been nearly due north from Kerman, in the direction of Tabbas or of
Tun. And even such a route would, according to Khanikoff's own map, pass
the Shor-Rud, though at a higher point.
I extract a few lines from that gentleman's narrative: "In proportion as
we got deeper into the desert, the soil became more and more arid; at
daybreak I could still discover a few withered plants of Caligonum and
Salsola, and not far from the same spot I saw a lark and another bird of
a whitish colour, the last living things that we beheld in this dismal
solitude.... The desert had now completely assumed the character of a land
accursed, as the natives call it.
