Khanikoff, On The Road
Between Kerman And Yezd, Not Far West Of That Which I Suppose Marco To Be
Travelling, Says:
"At the fifteen inhabited spots marked upon the map,
they have water which has been brought from a great distance, and at
considerable cost, by means of subterranean galleries, to which you
descend by large and deep wells.
Although the water flows at some depth,
its course is tracked upon the surface by a line of more abundant
vegetation." (Ib. p. 200.) Elphinstone says he has heard of such
subterranean conduits 36 miles in length. (I. 398.) Polybius speaks of
them: "There is no sign of water on the surface; but there are many
underground channels, and these supply tanks in the desert, that are known
only to the initiated.... At the time when the Persians got the upper hand
in Asia, they used to concede to such persons as brought spring-water to
places previously destitute of irrigation, the usufruct for five
generations. And Taurus being rife with springs, they incurred all the
expense and trouble that was needed to form these underground channels to
great distances, insomuch that in these days even the people who make use
of the water don't know where the channels begin, or whence the water
comes." (X. 28.)
CHAPTER XXI.
CONCERNING THE CITY OF COBINAN AND THE THINGS THAT ARE MADE THERE.
Cobinan is a large town.[NOTE 1] The people worship Mahommet. There is
much Iron and Steel and Ondanique, and they make steel mirrors of great
size and beauty.
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