Now, Then, I Am Going To Tell You About The Countries Towards The North, Of Which You Shall Hear In Regular Order.

Let us begin.

NOTE 1. - Having now arrived at HORMUZ, it is time to see what can be made of the Geography of the route from Kerman to that port.

The port of Hormuz, [which had taken the place of Kish as the most important market of the Persian Gulf (H. C.)], stood upon the mainland. A few years later it was transferred to the island which became so famous, under circumstances which are concisely related by Abulfeda: - "Hormuz is the port of Kerman, a city rich in palms, and very hot. One who has visited it in our day tells me that the ancient Hormuz was devastated by the incursions of the Tartars, and that its people transferred their abode to an island in the sea called Zarun, near the continent, and lying west of the old city. At Hormuz itself no inhabitants remain, but some of the lowest order." (In Buesching, IV. 261-262.) Friar Odoric, about 1321, found Hormuz "on an island some 5 miles distant from the main." Ibn Batuta, some eight or nine years later, discriminates between Hormuz or Moghistan on the mainland, and New Hormuz on the Island of Jeraun, but describes only the latter, already a great and rich city.

The site of the Island Hormuz has often been visited and described; but I could find no published trace of any traveller having verified the site of the more ancient city, though the existence of its ruins was known to John de Barros, who says that a little fort called Cuxstac (Kuhestek of P. della Valle, II. p. 300) stood on the site. An application to Colonel Pelly, the very able British Resident at Bushire, brought me from his own personal knowledge the information that I sought, and the following particulars are compiled from the letters with which he has favoured me: -

"The ruins of Old Hormuz, well known as such, stand several miles up a creek, and in the centre of the present district of Minao. They are extensive (though in large part obliterated by long cultivation over the site), and the traces of a long pier or Bandar were pointed out to Colonel Pelly. They are about 6 or 7 miles from the fort of Minao, and the Minao river, or its stony bed, winds down towards them. The creek is quite traceable, but is silted up, and to embark goods you have to go a farsakh towards the sea, where there is a custom-house on that part of the creek which is still navigable. Colonel Pelly collected a few bricks from the ruins. From the mouth of the Old Hormuz creek to the New Hormuz town, or town of Turumpak on the island of Hormuz, is a sail of about three farsakhs. It may be a trifle more, but any native tells you at once that it is three farsakhs from Hormuz Island to the creek where you land to go up to Minao. Hormuzdia was the name of the region in the days of its prosperity. Some people say that Hormuzdia was known as Jerunia, and Old Hormuz town as Jerun." (In this I suspect tradition has gone astray.) "The town and fort of Minao lie to the N.E. of the ancient city, and are built upon the lowest spur of the Bashkurd mountains, commanding a gorge through which the Rudbar river debouches on the plain of Hormuzdia." In these new and interesting particulars it is pleasing to find such precise corroboration both of Edrisi and of Ibn Batuta. The former, writing in the 12th century, says that Hormuz stood on the banks of a canal or creek from the Gulf, by which vessels came up to the city. The latter specifies the breadth of sea between Old and New Hormuz as three farsakhs. (Edrisi, I. 424; I. B. II. 230.)

I now proceed to recapitulate the main features of Polo's Itinerary from Kerman to Hormuz. We have: -

Marches 1. From Kerman across a plain to the top of a mountain-pass, where extreme cold was experienced . . . . . . . . 7 2. A descent, occupying . . . . . . . 2 3. A great plain, called Reobarles, in a much warmer climate, abounding in francolin partridge, and in dates and tropical fruit, with a ruined city of former note, called Camadi, near the head of the plain, which extends for . . . . . . . . 5 4. A second very bad pass, descending for 20 miles, say 1 5. A well-watered fruitful plain, which is crossed to Hormuz, on the shores of the Gulf . . . . 2 - Total 17

No European traveller, so far as I know, has described the most direct road from Kerman to Hormuz, or rather to its nearest modern representative Bander Abbasi, - I mean the road by Baft. But a line to the eastward of this, and leading through the plain of Jiruft, was followed partially by Mr. Abbott in 1850, and completely by Major R. M. Smith, R.E., in 1866. The details of this route, except in one particular, correspond closely in essentials with those given by our author, and form an excellent basis of illustration for Polo's description.

Major Smith (accompanied at first by Colonel Goldsmid, who diverged to Mekran) left Kerman on the 15th of January, and reached Bander Abbasi on the 3rd of February, but, as three halts have to be deducted, his total number of marches was exactly the same as Marco's, viz. 17. They divide as follows: -

Marches 1. From Kerman to the caravanserai of Deh Bakri in the pass so called. "The ground as I ascended became covered with snow, and the weather bitterly cold" (Report) . . . . . . . . . 6 2. Two miles over very deep snow brought him to the top of the pass; he then descended 14 miles to his halt. Two miles to the south of the crest he passed a second caravanserai: "The two are evidently built so near one another to afford shelter to travellers who may be unable to cross the ridge during heavy snow-storms." The next march continued the descent for 14 miles, and then carried him 10 miles along the banks of the Rudkhanah-i-Shor.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 154 of 335
Words from 156085 to 157129 of 342071