The distances [along the high roads] all start from Shīrāz, because this is the central point in the province. From Shīrāz going towards the Iṣfahān frontier there are three main roads, namely, the way by Māyīn and Rūn, the way by Iṣṭakhr, and the way by Sumayram.
Of these, on the Māyīn and Rūn Road it is counted as 52 leagues from Shīrāz to Yazdikhwāst, the frontier stage between Fārs and the Iṣfahān District. The first stage is of 6 leagues, from Shīrāz to Dih Gurg in the Shīrāz District; the second stage is 6 leagues to the head of the Bridge over the River Kūr; the third stage is of 4 leagues to Māyīn; the fourth stage is of 6 leagues to Kūshk-i-Shahriyār in [the plain of] Dasht Rūn; the fifth stage is 6 leagues to Dih Bāsht in [the plain of] Dasht Ūrd; the sixth stage is 7 leagues to Kūshk-i-Zar, also of Dasht Ūrd; the seventh stage is of 7 leagues to Dih Gawz; and the eighth stage is of 10 leagues to Yazdikhwāst.*
The road by Iṣṭakhr. This also comes out by Yazdikhwāst, and going by Iqlīd and Surmaq it is 69 leagues in length, being longer than [the Māyīn Road]; and this is the Winter Road, which is used when the other roads are impassable [from snow]. The first stage is of 7 leagues from Shīrāz to Zarqān, the second stage is 6 leagues to [Pādust or Pāvdast], the third stage 4 leagues to Iṣṭakhr, the fourth stage is of 6 leagues to Kamah, the fifth stage is 4 leagues to Kamhang, the sixth stage is of 8 leagues to Dīh Bīd, the seventh stage is 7 leagues to Dīh Pūland, the eighth stage is 7 leagues to Surmaq, the ninth stage is 5 leagues to Abādah, the tenth stage is 7 leagues to Shūristān, and the eleventh stage is 8 leagues to Yazdikhwāst.*
The road to Sumayram; and from Shīrāz to Sumayram it is 45 leagues. The first stage from Shīrāz is of 5 leagues to Juwaym, the second stage, on to Bayḍā, is 3 leagues, the third stage is 4 leagues to Ṭūr, the fourth stage is of 5 leagues to Tīr Māyijān of Kāmfīrūz, the fifth stage is 4 leagues to Jarmaq, the sixth stage is 4 leagues to Kūrad: the seventh stage is 5 leagues to Kallār, the eighth stage is 7 leagues to Dīh Tarsaān, and the ninth stage is 8 leagues to Sumayram.*
From Shīrāz to the province of Kirmān there are three main roads, namely, the Rūdān Road, the Shīrjān Road, and the road by Purg to Tārum.
The Rūdān Road; and from Shīrāz to Rūdān it is 75 leagues. The first stage is in 10 leagues to the head of the Dam built by ‘Aḍud-ad-Dawlah, the second stage is in 10 leagues to the village of Khuvār, the third stage is 10 leagues to Abādah, the fourth stage is 6 leagues to Dih Mūrd, the fifth stage is 7 leagues to Ṣāhah, the sixth stage is 11 leagues to Rādhān, the seventh stage is 7 leagues to Shahr-i-Bābak, the eighth stage is 7 leagues to Mashra‘ah Ibrāhīmī, and the ninth stage is 7 leagues to Rūdān.*
The Shīrjān Road; and from Shīrāz to Shīrjān is 80 leagues. The first stage is in 4 leagues to Dih Būdan, the second stage is 3 leagues to the two villages of Dāriyān, the third stage is 7 leagues to Khurramah, the fourth stage is 6 leagues to Kath [or Kisht], the fifth stage is 7 leagues to Khayrah, the sixth stage is 9 leagues to Nayrīz, the seventh stage is 7 leagues to Quṭruh, the eighth stage is 7 leagues to Mashra‘ah, the ninth stage is 5 leagues to Parbāl [or Parbāk], the tenth and eleventh stages are together 15 leagues to Mashra‘ah Muhaffafah [“the Passage of the Mirage”], and the twelfth stage is of 10 leagues to the border of the stony [or salt] plain of Shīrjān.*
The road by Purg to Tārum; and from Shīrāz to this last it is 70 leagues. The first stage is in 6 leagues to Māhalūyah, the second stage is 9 leagues to Sarvistān, the third stage is of 9 leagues to the village of Kurm, the fourth stage is in 5 leagues to Pasā, the fifth stage is 7 leagues to the village of Fustajān, the sixth stage is in 4 leagues to the frontier of the Dārābjird District, the seventh stage is in 6 leagues to Dārābjird, the eighth stage is in 6 leagues to Rustāq-ar-Rustāq, the ninth stage is 12 leagues to Purg, and the tenth stage is 10 leagues to Tārum.*
From Shīrāz to the frontier of the Khūzistān province is 62 leagues. The first stage [from Shīrāz] is to Juwaym in 5 leagues, the second stage is 5 leagues to Khullār, the third stage is 5 leagues to Kharrārah, the fourth stage is 4 leagues to Dih Gawz of Tīr Murdān, the fifth stage is 3 leagues to Kūsjān, the sixth stage is 3 leagues to Nawbanjān, the seventh stage is 4 leagues to Khwābdān, the eighth stage is 6 leagues to Kishn, the ninth stage is 5 leagues to Gunbad Mallaghān, the tenth stage is 4 leagues to Ṣāhah, the eleventh stage is of 4 leagues to Ḥabs, the twelfth stage is of 6 leagues to Furzuk, the thirteenth stage is 4 leagues to Arrajān, and the fourteenth stage is of 4 leagues to Būstānak.*
From Shīrāz. to the coast towns (Sāḥiliyyāt), namely, Jannābā, Sīnīz, and to Mahrūbān, it is 62 leagues. The first stage [from Shīrāz] is 4 leagues to Juzḥīrkān [or Jūḥīrkān], the second stage is 6 leagues to Dasht Arzān, the third stage is 10 leagues to Kāzirūn, the fourth stage is 9 leagues to Khisht, the fifth stage is of 7 leagues to Tawwaj, the sixth stage is 4 leagues to Dīh Mālik, the seventh and eighth stages are 10 leagues to Jannābā, the ninth stage is 6 leagues to Sīnīz, and the tenth stage is 6 leagues to Mahrūbān.*
From Shīrāz to the coast districts (A‘māl-i-Sīf), being 39 leagues. The first stage [from Shīrāz] is in 7 leagues to Māṣaram, the second stage is 6 leagues to the Sittajān river-bed, the third stage is 3 leagues to Jirrah, the fourth stage is 4 leagues to Ghundijān, the fifth stage is 6 leagues to Rawā-adh-Dhīwān, the sixth stage is in 6 leagues to Tawwaj, the seventh stage is 7 leagues to the coast.*
From Shīrāz to Najīram, which is 65 leagues. The first four stages [from Shīrāz] to Ghundijān are in total 20 leagues by the road that has just been given. Then the fifth stage is in 7 leagues to Būshtakān, the sixth stage is in 5 leagues to Būshkānāt, the seventh stage is in 10 leagues to the village of Shanānā, the eighth stage is in 8 leagues to [the beginning of] Māndistān, the ninth stage is 7 leagues to the further limit of Māndistān, and the tenth stage is 8 leagues to Najīram.*
From Shīrāz to Sīrāf by way of Fīrūzābād it is 86 leagues. From Shīrāz the first stage is of 5 leagues to Kafrah,* the second stage is 5 leagues to Kuvār, the third stage is 5 leagues to Khunayfqān, the fourth stage is 5 leagues to Fīrūzābād, the fifth stage is 8 leagues to Ṣimkān, the sixth stage is 7 leagues to Habrak [or Hīrak], the seventh stage is 5 leagues to Kārzīn, the eighth stage is of 8 leagues to Lāghir, the ninth stage is 8 leagues to Kurān, the tenth stage is of four days’ march from Kurān to Sīrāf, this being of 30 leagues.
From Shīrāz to Yazd it is 60 leagues. The first stage is to Zarqān, in 6 leagues; the second stage [is of 6 leagues to Pādust, and thence on to Iṣṭakhr it is 4 leagues];* the third stage is of 6 leagues to [Kamah], the fourth stage is of 4 leagues to Kamhang, the fifth stage is of 4 leagues to Dīh Bīd, the sixth stage is of 12 leagues to Abarqūyah, the seventh stage is of 5 leagues to Dih Shīr, the eighth stage is of 4 leagues to Tūmarah Bastar [or Tūfarah Basb], and the ninth stage is of 9 leagues to Yazd.*
[Ibn-al-Balkhī next relates the history of the Shabānkārah and of the Kurdish Ramms, with a short discussion of the characteristics of the Persians from the point of view of their government. These sections have already been given in epitome in the Introduction. After which follows a succinct account (fols. 89b-90b) of the revenues of Fārs, which needs to be translated in full; and then the MS. closes with the long paragraph, epitomized in the Introduction, relating the closing years of the last of the Buyids.]