granite basso-relievo, are found in different places. At another gateway, similar to the one before-mentioned, the sculptor has represented two monstrous figures, of the human and bestial forms united, with the addition of wings projecting from the shoulders, extending high over the back, and covering the breast. Each has the body, legs, and ears of a bull, and the face of a man, the head covered with a cylindrical diadem, with a pair of horns, winding upwards from the brow towards the crown, and the whole is surmounted by a lotos-leaved coronet. The expression of the human face is severe; and a long carefully-curled beard, adds to the majesty of the general form. On a near approach to the hall of columns, the eye is rivetted by the grandeur and beautiful decorations of the double staircase which leads up to them. Beyond this, and rising from the landing-place, is another double staircase, but smaller. The windings of these staircases are covered with sculptures of human figures, and a duplicate representation of a combat between a bull and a lion. What artist sculptured the wonderful procession on the winding-walls of the staircases is unknown, but it seems to be of Ionian workmanship. At any rate, the finishing of the parts, and the grace and truth of the bass-reliefs, proclaim a refinement worthy of the master-chisels of Greece. As for the platform itself, nothing can be more striking than the view of its ruins,—so vast,- —so magnificent,-so fallen, mutilated, and silent! But every object is as desolate as it is beautiful,-awakening the most poignant feelings, that a pile of such indefatigable labour, such complicated ingenuity, should be left untenanted and unnoticed in the desert, or if noticed, be doomed to the predatory mallet of some ruthless bigot, or ignorant barbarian. This immense pile is 380 feet long from E. to W., and 350 from N. to S., the greater part of which space is covered with broken capitals, shafts of pillars, and countless fragments of buildings-some of which are ornamented with the most exquisite sculpture. The pillars are ranged in four divisions, three colonnades, and a quadrangle of central columns 36 in number. The form of the columns of the three colonnades is the same in all, and perfectly beautiful. "I gazed at them," says Porter, "with wonder and delight. Besides the admiration which the general elegance of their form and the exquisite workmanship of their parts excited, I was never made so sensible of the impression of perfect symmetry comprising also that of perfect beauty." The height of each pillar in the colonnades is 60 feet, the circumference of the shaft 16 feet, and in length 44 feet from the tor to the capital. The shaft is finely fluted in 52 divisions. The capitals which remain, though much injured, plainly show that they were once surmounted by demi-bulls, the heads of which looked to the various fronts of the terrace. These pillars seem to have been the supports of ponderous roofs of massy timber. The columns composing the quadrangle are 55 feet high, their shafts 35 feet in height, and their capitals of the same description with those in the grand gateway. These also seem to have supported a roof. Porter appears to have ascertained this building to have been the hall of audience, and another immense ruined mound, of 315 feet in length, to have been the identical banqueting-hall, burnt in a fit of intoxication by Alexander. It is impossible for us to describe, or even enumerate, all the various and distinct, though connected, piles of ruins, which cover this immense platform. Out of the whole number of pillars which formed the three colonnades and the great quadrangle, which amounted to at least 72, 15 only were standing in 1818, and of these two have fallen since. In the shah, or royal mountain, are two excavated tombs, about 600 fect of

ascent from the base of the slope. These are from 300 to 400 yards distant from each other. The front of each, finely sculptured, consists of two compartments. The lower tomb, which is 70 feet wide and 130 feet high, has a false door carved between two columns, surmounted with capitals of the double unicorn-bull, from which issues a beam supporting an architrave, frieze and cornice. On this entablature rests, in the upper compartment, a kind of stage, similar to the Israelitish ark of the covenant, on which is placed a blazing fire-altar. Before it stands the pontiff-king, or some officiating personage, his right hand uplifted, and his left grasping a bow, and between him and the altar hovers the mysterious Ferwer, or symbolical attendant, issuing from a winged globe or circle.

Ruins of Shapoor.] In this province are also found the vast ruins of Shapoor, in the vicinity of Kauzeroon, which occupy a space of 6 square miles, with numerous sculptures, belonging to the Sassanian dynasty.

Tauris.] Tauris, the capital of Aderbeidjan, has mightily fallen from its ancient grandeur. The modern city stands in nearly the centre of the old, and is at present only 3 miles in circumference, surrounded with walls of sun-burnt bricks, and towers of kiln-burnt bricks placed at regular distances from each other. The fortifications are miserable, and incapable of defence against a Russian army, and the inhabitants were so dissatisfied with either their governor or the government, that they deliverecl up the place to the Russians in 1827, which was however restored at the treaty of peace, that same year. There are no buildings of importance in the place, except the citadel, which has been fortified under the direction of British engineers, in the pay of Abbas Meerza. The population has been stated by one traveller at 100,000, and by another at only half that number.

Hamadan.] Hamadan is still a considerable city, though but the shadow of the supposed Ecbatana. It was reckoned to contain in 1818, about 9000 houses, and from 40,000 to 50,000 inhabitants, including about 600 Jewish families, and nearly as many Armenians. The situation of this city, at the foot of Mount Elwund, resembles that of Broussa, at the base of the Asiatic Olympus, though the former cannot for height or beauty of form, be compared to the latter. It is one of the best watered places in Persia, as the fine springs with which the Elwund abounds, form a copious stream, which flows through the city into the flat country. Here is the supposed tomb of Esther and Mordecai, much frequented by the Jews, from different parts of the world, though the building seems not earlier than the Mohammedan era, if not considerably later.

Kermanshah. S.W. of Hamadan is Kermanshah, a large city, in a delightful, well-watered, and fertile plain of great extent. The number of houses is computed at 12,000, and its population is consequently greater than that of Tauris or of Hamadan. The city of Kermanshah is about three miles in circumference, and stands upon several gentle hills at the foot of a range, so that many of its streets are very steep. It is the resi dence of one of the princes of the royal blood, whose government extends northward to Koordistan, southward to Shooster, and the sea-coast of Khusistan, westward to the Tank, or pass of Mount Zagros, and eastward to the town of Hamadan. The governing prince is the great owner of the land and the buildings, and is, in fact, a monied speculator and monopolist. It has only four mosques, but the baths are of a superior kind. The town has good bazaars, and every species of fruit is excellent, and in great abundance. Among the manufactures of the place are brass cannons,

muskets, and pistols, and also printed cotton-cloths. Carpets are here wrought, which are thought to be equal to any produced in the whole empire. These are usually the work of females of distinction; since, to spin, to sew, and to embroider, are the chief accomplishments of their education. These carpets are mostly made by the needle, with coloured worsteds, on a woven substance, in the way that young ladies in England, of the middle ranks, work mats for tea-urns. These, from their size and quality, sometimes cost 50 tomauns, equal to as many pounds sterling each, though there are others at all prices below this. Others again, of an inferior quality, are altogether woven in colours, and sold at a cheaper rate, these being the work of men. There are no large manufactories of either, however, as both are wrought in private dwellings, and brought into the bazaar when finished for sale."

Balfroosh.] Balfroosh in Mazanderan is, in Mr Fraser's opinion, the best peopled and most agreeable city in all Persia. Its numerous population has been already mentioned. It is a city purely mercantile, being entirely filled with merchants, manufacturers, and mechanics of various descriptions.

Yesd.] Yesd is a large and flourishing city, on the S.W. angle of the desert of Khorasan, containing 24,000 houses, according to captain Christie's information, and 100,000 inhabitants; but, according to Fraser, its whole population does not exceed 50,000. Though miserably oppressed, it has a great trade, being the great emporium of the internal commerce of the empire, as it is a convenient resting-place for the caravans from Kerman, Heraut, Mesched, and Tubbeez, which are there met by merchants from Ispahaun, Sheerauz, Cashan, Teheraun, and other parts of Persia. All the merchandize of Eastern and Western Persia, Usbec Tartary, and India, may be obtained here, in consequence of its central situation.

Mesched.] Mesched is the capital of Persian Khorasan. It is, according to Fraser, but a poor place, not half-inhabited. The number of houses, as Fraser was informed by an officer of the police establishment, was 7,700, of which not above one-half were tenanted. Allowing six to each house, the whole population would not exceed 23,000 permanent inhabitants. To these may be added other 9000, belonging to the prince's household, the troops, the Persian nobles with their dependents who occasionally reside here, the priests, and moollahs, and students, who live entirely in the medressahs or colleges, and the influx of strangers, pilgrims, and merchants, from all quarters, who come in caravans of many hundreds at a time. All these combined make up a medium population of about 32,000 souls. It is chiefly famous for its containing the tomb of Imaum Reza, a Sheeah saint, one of the descendants of Alee, to which pilgrimages are annually made by

6 On the road between Hamadan and Ispahan, at the village of Alfraoun, Buck ingham had an opportunity of witnessing the process of carpet-making :-"We alighted here," says he, at the house of a man known to the faqueer, and were treated with great civility. In the room where we were received, two of his daughters were employed in making a carpet for sale. The woof was formed of two layers of coarse twine, about a quarter of an inch between the cords of each; the upper layer having its cords falling into the intervals of the lower, so that the space was reduced to half. Large balls of coloured worsted were hung on a frame close by. The cords of the woof were stretched by two horizontal bars, one above and the other below, and the carpet itself was worked from the bottom upward. The girls sat before it, and, beginning each towards their respective side, approached until they met each other in the centre. The whole process consisted in taking into the fingers two or three threads of worsted, of colours suggested by the fancy-workers, passing them underneath a cord of the woof, twisting them a little by the hand, to secure them in their places, and then cutting off the ends with a knife, leaving a length of perhaps half an inch from the bottom of the woof to the surface of the carpet."

devotees from all parts of Persia. It is also the chief mart of religious instruction in Persia, having not less than 16 medressahs or colleges for the instruction of youth in the tenets of the koran, mathematics, and astronomy, or rather judicial astrology.

Neeshapore, &c.] The other Persian cities of importance are the following: Neeshapore, with 5000 inhabitants; Tubbeez, 20,000; Goonahabad, with its villages, 40,000; Bushrewgah, 25,000; Toorboot-ee-Hyderee, 40,000; Bheerjoon, upwards of 30,000; Kayn, 8000 families of weavers alone; Toorsheez, 4000; Kabooshan, 20,000; Boojnoord, 15,000; Kerman, 20,000; Busheer, 10,000; Braausejoon, 10,000; Shooster, 15,000; Oormeeah, 20,000; Maragha, 15,000; Khoy, 25,000; Sennah, 18,000; Booroojeerd, 12,000; Zenjaun, 10,000; Casveen, 60,000; and Kashan, at least 30,000.

The longitudes of Sennah, Hamadan, and Kermanshaw, although these have all been visited-Hama dan repeatedly-by Europeans, are not put down in the table, as their longitudes have never, as far as we know, been fixed by astronomical observation. They are given, indeed, in gazetteers and in maps, but they are merely computed from routes, and there is reason to think that Ha. madan is placed half a degree too far west, it being placed in 48 E. long. in the maps of Kinnier, Arrowsmith, and Fraser, whereas D'Anville has placed it at least 40 minutes farther east. In Malte Brun's table of Persian positions astronomically determined, Ispahan is placed in 51° 50′ E. long. and 320 24 N. lat. according to major Monteith and Mr Brown the unfortunate traveller. This is extraordinary, as the latter of these gentlemen never saw Ispahan, aud the former never took it at all. Had it been taken by major Monteith it is strange that it is no where mentioned, and Fraser seems at this rate to have been totally ignorant that that gentleman had fixed its position astronomi. cally. The fact is, that the position assigned in that table is just that assigned it in the old maps, founded on the authority of Nasroddin and Cazvin, and the longitude is that of Kinnier, who never took it, but only adopted it from others. Fraser's latitude of Ispahan agrees to a fraction with tha given it by Kaempfer, who visited Ispahan in 1695, which shows that both have taken it from careful observation. What is equally extraordinary is, that in that same table, the position of Tauris, in 46° 25′ E. long, and 38° 4 N. lat., is also given on the authority of the same gentlemen who gave that of Ispahan. The fact is quite the reverse. The position there assigned is from Kinnier, not from Monteith or Brown, and is besides quite erroneous. Kinnier has fixed it so in his map, but he does not say that he did so from astronomical observation. The longitude of Tauris was fixed astronomically by lieutenant Snodgrass and Mr Brown, who found it to be 47° 17′ 46′′ E. of Greenwich, and 33° 5′ 10′′ N. lat., as may be seen by consulting Morier's second volume of his travels, and Fraser has adopted it in his appendix to his travels in Khorasan and Mazanderan, vol. ii. p. 350, margin; and yet his map, drawn by Arrowsmith, has it just as it is in Kinnier. It is matter of regret that this able geographer did not adopt the positions carefully laid down in Morier's map of Aderbeidjan, and amongst others those of Tauris and the lake of Oormeeah. The same error is committed in Kerr Porter's map, drawn by the same hand; and the same erroneous quotation is made as in Malte Brun's table, and is repeated in the Modern Traveller.

EASTERN PERSIA.

THIS division formerly comprehended, not only what is denominated Eastern Persia, but also all the tract from the crest of the Afghanistaun and Beloochistaun mountains to the Indus, the province of Sindy, the whole of the Punjaub, and the provinces of Mooltaun and Cashmire. It also included the province of Bahlkh, beyond the Hindookhoosh, Tokaristan, and Kilan, whilst westward it reached as far as Toorsheez and Mesched. All this extensive domain belonged to Achmet Shah Abdallee, the founder of this short-lived monarchy. But all E. of the Indus has been seized by Runjeet Sing, the Seik chief of Lahore; and all beyond the Paropamisus and the Hindoo Kho, by the Usbecs of Khullum and Koondoz; while Mesched and Western Khorassan have been recovered by the Persians, and the Ameers of Sindy are now independent. The Afghaun monarchy is now dismembered, and all that remains to the successors of Achmet Abdallee is the kingdom of Heraut; Afghanistaun itself being divided amongst the sons of Futteh Khaun, late vizir to Shah Mohammed, and Beloochistaun having fallen to the Khaun of Kelaut and other chiefs. This dismembered

monarchy may therefore be considered at present (1830) as consisting of the following large divisions: Heraut and Seistaun on the west; the Eimauks and Hazaurehs on the north; and Afghanistaun and Beloochistaun on the S. and E. The whole tract, thus divided, has the Persian gulf and Indian ocean on the S., the Indus and its delta on the E., the lofty range of the Hindoo Kho and the khanate of Baulkh on the N., Persian Khorassan on the N. W., and the desert of Kerman on the W.; whilst on the