_ 107 _ is a great city called [Hatar], capital of a kingdom which borders on China. One may not go there without the permission of the its King. Along the whole road to [Hatar] there are towers with turrets, each visible from the next, to signal with fires if the King gives permission for a caravan to pass. If the signals respond favourably, the caravan may pass; if not, it may not. This can all be done within a day. It is known that from the city of Samarkand to [Sohara] to the west one can go to the city of [Kaffa], a port on the Greater Sea (?), and also above the Caspian Sea to the north; and almost halfway a torrential river called Odil [(?) Ural], which flows into the Caspian Sea near the fine city of Astrakhan, which is a staging-post and commercial centre for all those regions. Item: We stayed in this city of Qum for two days. We then left and went to put up in a fine caravanserai near a small place called [Farva]. We continued our way to the north-west and arrived on the next day in an ancient city called Saveh. Item: Saveh, a city situated to the south, is not as large as Qum, because it was destroyed; but it was once very fine, as is evident from the buildings and the walls of mud surrounding it, which have some rebuilt towers. It appears
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTg0NzAy