"The Distance Between Kerman And Kuh-Benan In A Direct Line Amounts To 103
Miles.
Marco Polo travelled over this stretch in seven days, or barely 15
miles a day.
From Kuh-benan to Tebbes the distance is 150 miles, or fully
18 miles a day for eight days. From Kuh-benan via Naibend to Tun, the
distance is, on the other hand, 205 miles, or more than 25 miles a day. In
either case we can perceive from the forced marches that after leaving
Kuh-benan he came out into a country where the distances between the wells
became much greater.
"If he travelled by the eastern route he must have made much longer day's
journeys than on the western. On the eastern route the distances between
the wells were greater. Major Sykes has himself travelled this way, and
from his detailed description we get the impression that it presented
particular difficulties. With a horse it is no great feat to ride 25 miles
a day for eight days, but it cannot be done with camels. That I rode
42-1/2 miles a day between Hauz-i-Haji-Ramazan and Sadfe was because of the
danger from rain in the Kevir, and to continue such a forced march for more
than two days is scarcely conceivable. Undoubtedly Marco Polo used camels
on his long journeys in Eastern Persia, and even if he had been able to
cover 205 miles in eight days, he would not be obliged to do so, for on the
main road through Naibend and Duhuk to Tun there are abundant opportunities
of procuring water.
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