122 ON THE TRACK OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Among those that have left such material may be mentioned Ibn Khurdadhbah (864 A.D.), who was postmaster of the Jibal provinces in the ninth century; Ibn Rustah (903 A.D.), who gave a detailed account of the great Khurasan route, stage by stage; and Istakhri (951 A.D.), himself a native of Persepolis. ^
The first stage in these Muslim itineraries extends as far as Afridhun, practically corresponding to our mid-day halt, and probably to be identified with the classic Paredon, as I have ex- plained elsewhere. 2 Ibn Rustah, in 903, gave the distance from Rai, with an added description of the road, as follows : 'From Rai to Afridhun is nine farsakhs .... with mountains on the right hand and on the left ; you have to cross flowing rivers, about eighty streams, which are called Hastddh Rudhdn^ 'Eighty Rivers,' all of which must be forded before reaching the village of Afridhun.' ^ This was exactly our own experience. The streams were swollen by the unusually heavy rains and were almost impassable at some points, as they swept over their low banks, flooding the level expanse.* The wheels of our wagons were frequently almost submerged, and we saw some heavily laden donkeys nearly carried off their feet by the rush of the water. These same floods may have been responsible for driving out a gigantic lizard, which we came across later, lying dead on the road where there was a slight ascent. This monstrous specimen was certainly one of the most disgusting creatures ever created by Ahriman, and I could imagine it gnawing at the roots of JTom, the tree of immortality, according to old Iranian legend.^
Some six farsakhs beyond, or eight hours after leaving Te-
1 See Le Strange, Eastern Caliph- Marquart, Untersuch. z. Oesch. von ate, pp. 12-13. Eran, 2. 27-29, in Philologus, Supple-
2 See Caspiae Portae, and also my mentband, 10, Leipzig, 1905. ATticleintheDasturHoshang Memorial *I found them but slightly lower Volume, Bombay, 1911. in the dry weather of June, 1910.
3 Ibn Rustah, ed. de Goeje, Bibl. « See Pahlavi Bd. 18. 2. Arab. Oeog. 7. 169. 6-10 ; compare also
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