"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 . . . . . . 8 | {Pudenun . . . . . . . 4-1/2
8. Ser-i-julge . . . . 4 | 8. Kheirabad . . . . . . 4
9. Bahabad . . . . . . 4 | 9. Bahabad . . . . . . . 4
- | -
Farsakh . . . . . 51 | Farsakh . . . . . . 43-1/2
Map of Persia.
2. Maga . . . . . . . Salt well.
3. Chashma Sufid . . " "
4.{Khudafrin . . . . Sweet spring.
{Pir Moral . . . . Salt well.
5. God Hashtaki . . . " "
6. Rezu . . . . . . . " "
"These details are drawn from different authorities, but are in excellent
agreement. That the total distances are different in the first two columns
is because Fahanunch lies nearer than Tebbes to Bahabad. Two or three
discrepancies in the names are of no importance. Burch denotes a castle or
fort; Belucha is evidently Cha-i-beluch or the well of the Baluchi, and it
is very probable that a small fort was built some time or other at this
well which was visited by raiders from Baluchistan. Ser-i-julge and
Kheirabad may be two distinct camping grounds very near each other. The
Chasma Sufid or 'white spring' of the English map is evidently the same
place as Sefid-ab, or 'white water.' Its God Hashtaki is a corruption of
the Persian God-i-shah-taghi, or the 'hollow of the royal saxaul.'
Khudafrin, on the other hand, is very apocryphal. It is no doubt
Khuda-aferin or 'God be praised!' - an ejaculation very appropriate in the
mouth of a man who comes upon a sweet spring in the midst of the desert. If
an Englishman travelled this way he might have mistaken this ejaculation
for the name of the place. But then 'Unsurveyed' would hardly be placed
just in this part of the Bahabad Desert.
"The information I obtained about the road from Tebbes to Bahabad was
certainly very scanty, but also of great interest. Immediately beyond
Kurit the road crosses a strip of the Kevir, 2 farsakh broad, and
containing a river-bed which is said to be filled with water at the end of
February.
