the arrangement of the columns at the entrance, and those in the centre), and forming, probably, the bases of sphinxes or other colossal figures. Having taken some pains to ascertain the real plan and the original number of the columns in the great hall, I came to the following conclusions: I observed, in the first place, that there were two orders of columns, distinct in their capitals as well as in their height, and that, of the highest, two rows were severally placed at the E. and W. extremities of the hall. "Between these and the mass of columns of less height and a different capital is the space on either side of one row, in which, however, no trace whatever of bases exists, and through which run the channels of aqueducts. The remainder in the centre consists of six columns in front, and composes with the four exterior rows a line of ten columns; each row contains in depth six bases, forming, with the twelve at the entrance, a grand total of seventy-two. On drawing out a plan of this arrangement, I find that it is symmetrical in all its points, and in every way in which I can view it satisfies my imagination; but, on comparing it with that laid down by Niebuhr, my own conceptions have accorded so exactly with those of that great traveller on this, (as well as on the ichnography of the general remains) that the introduction of my sketch becomes unnecessary. "On one of the highest columns is the remains of the sphinx, so common in all the ornaments at Persepolis; and I could distinguish on the summit of every one a something quite unconnected with the capitals. The high columns have, strictly speaking, no capitals what ever, being each a long shaft to the very summit, on which the sphinx rests. The capitals of the lesser columns are of a complicated order, composed of many pieces. I marked three distinct species of base. The shafts are fluted in the Doric manner, but the flutes are more closely fitted together. Their circumference is sixteen feet seven inches. Some of their bases have a square plinth, the side of one of which I measured, and found it to be seven feet; the diameter of the base was five feet four inches, diap meter of columns four feet two inches, distance from centre of base to the next centre twenty-eight feet. To the eastward of one of these, and close at the foot of one of the highest columns, are the fragments of an immense figure. The head and part of the fore-legs I could easily trace; the head appeared to me more like that of a lion than of any other animal, and the legs confirmed this supposition; as it has claws so placed, as to indicate that the posture of the figure was couchant. "The grand collection of porticoes, walls, and other component parts of a magnificent hall, are situated behind the columns, at the distance perhaps of fifty paces, and are arranged in a square. "On the interior sides of the porticoes or door frames, are many sculptured figures, which have been drawn with accuracy by Le Brun. They represent the state and magnificence of a king, seated in a high chair with his feet resting on a footstool. "To the north of these remains, is the frame of what was once a portico, and where the outlines of a sphinx are to be traced among the rude and stupendous masses of stone. Further on, nearly on the same line and and bearing, is the head of a horse, part of which is buried in the ground. It is ornamented like the remains of that which we call the sphinx on the great portals, and is certainly the horse's head, which Le Brun drew, declaring that he could not discover the part to which it had belonged. Close to it, however, are the remains of an immense column, eight feet in diameter; the different parts of the shaft have fallen in a direct line with this head, and obviously formed with it one connected piece in the original structure, in which probably the fragment on the ground surmounted the capital, as the sphinx still crowns some of the remaining columns. "In the time of Mandelsloe, (who visited Persepolis 27th January, 1638) the number of columns erect was nineteen in a letter indeed to Olearius, (written from Madagascar on the 12th of July, 1639, and published by his correspondent) he states, that thirty remained; but, as he does not specify their position, he might have included those lying on the ground, and at any rate he was writing a private letter, from memory, in a distant country, at the interval of a year and a half. His own authority therefore in his book is a better evidence of the fact; and as he there omits another and much more curious circumstance, which he had asserted in the same letter, the value of that document becomes still more suspicious. Speaking of the celebrated inscriptions at Persepolis, he says, on voit aussi plusieurs caractères anciens mais fort bien marqués, et conservant une partie de l'or, dont ils ont été remplis. Sir Thomas Herbert also, however, mentions that the letters at Persepolis were gilt. "17th. On quitting Persepolis, I left our party in order to examine a ruined building on the plains, which at a distance is generally pointed out as a demolished cara vanserai. I passed the stream of the Rood Khonéh Sewund to the north, nearly where the road takes a N. E. direction, and came to a fine mass of stone, thirty-seven feet four inches square, which appears to have formed the base of some building. It is composed of two layers of marble blocks, the lower range of which extends about two feet beyond the line of the upper. The largest blocks, according to my measurement, are ten feet four inches in length, four feet four in depth, and three feet fourin breadth; all still retain a moulding, and traces here and there of masonry which must have connected them with others. The whole building is filled up in the middle by a black marble, and in its N.E. angle one stone is raised higher than the rest. In the same angle, is a channel cut, as if something had been fitted into it. I took the following bearings: foot of the rocks of Nakshi Rustam, N. 10 W. two miles; foot of the mountain of Persepolis, S. twomiles; our encampment S. 20 W. two miles; road to Ispahan, N. 80E. "I was called from this spot by a chatter sent by the envoy to conduct me to some sculptures, which he had himself seen, (about four miles from the place on the same moun tain of Persepolis,) by the side of the road to Ispahan. I found them indeed worthy of the minutest investigation, as no preceding traveller has described them with any suffi cient accuracy. They are situated in a recess of the mountain, formed by projecting and picturesque rocks. The sculpture facing the road is composed of seven colossal figures and two small ones. The two principal characters are placed in the centre: same (not in position indeed, but in general circumstance) as that which we had so often seen represented at Shapour and Nakshi Rustam. He has the distinguishing globe on his head, and offers a ring to the opposite figure; who, seizing it with his right hand, holds a staff or club in his left. Behind the personage with the globe, are two figures, one of whom, with a young and pleasing face holds the fan, the customary ensign of dignity: and the other, with hard and marked features, and a beard, rests on the pommel of his sword with one hand, and beckons with the other. Behind the chief on the right, are two figures, which from the feminine cast of their countenances appear to be women; one wears an extraordinary cap, and the other, whose hair falls in ringlets on her shoulders, makes an expressive motion with her right hand, as if she were saying, Be silent. Between the two principal figures, are introduced two very diminished beings, who do not reach higher than the knees of their colossal companions. In dress they differ materially from each other, and one holds a long staff. To the left, on a fragment of the rock, is the bust of a figure, who also holds his hand in a beckoning and significant posture. The largest of these figures I reckoned to be ten feet in height; the small ones two feet eight inches. The whole of this is so much disfigured, that it is difficult to ascertain its various and singular details. centre: the one to the left is the the chisel. The same royal person- "In the same recess, and to the left of this sculptured rock, forming an angle with it, is another monument in a much higher state of preservation; parts of it indeed have suffered so little, that they ap pear to be fresh at this day from delicacy delicacy, and is probably, therefore, of the same texture. From the ancles a sort of bandage extends itself in flowing folds, and adds a rich finish to the whole. On the thigh there appears to hang a dagger. The borse is splendidly accoutred with chains of a circular ornament: his length, from the breast to the tail, is seven feet two inches; and on the chest is a Greek inscription, of which the letters are about an inch in height, and correspond in form with those of the latter empire. "Opposite to the sculpture, in the same recess and on the right of the first, is another, containing the same two figures on horseback, holding a ring, which we had seen at Shapour and at Nakshi Rustam. On the general merit of these remains, I may say, that they are superior to those at Nakshi Rustam, and equal to those at Shapour. "When I had sketched these monuments, and completed my observations, I hastened to join my party, who were then considerably advanced. A man who filled some station about the camp joined me. He asked my opinion on the probable design of these sculptures, and when I had told him my own conceptions, he assured me, that the royal personage here also was Rustam; and when I reminded him that their own traditional king, Jemsheed, might possibly be the hero, he replied in the true spirit of a system, "Jemsheed was but the slave of Rustam." Of the fi gures grasping the ring, one again (according to the same theory) was Rustam, in the act of proving his strength, by wrenching it from the other's hand." TE MANNERS, DRESSES, AND CHARACTERS OF THE PERSIANS. VEHERAN, the present capital of Persia, is situated, as I ascertained by a meridional observation, in lat. 35o. 40. It is in circumference between four and a half and five miles, if we might judge from the length of our ride round the walls, which indeed occupied an hour and a half: but from this we must deduct something for the deviations necessary from the intervention of the gardens, and the slaughter-houses. There are six gates, inlaid with coloured bricks and with figures of tigers and other beasts in rude mosaic: their entrance is lofty and doomed; and they are certainly better than those that we had then seen in any of the fortified places of Persia. To the N. W. are separate towers. We saw two pieces of artillery, one apparently a mortar, the other a long gun. The ditch in some parts had fallen in, and was there supported by brick work. "The town itself is about the size of Shiraz; but it has not so many public edifices: and, as it is built of bricks baked in the sun, the whole has a mud-like appearance. Of the mosques, the principal is the Mesjid Shah, a structure not yet finished. There are six others, small small and insignificant; and three or four medressés or colleges. There are said to be one hundred and fifty caravanserais, and one hundred and fifty hummums or baths. There are two maidans; one in the town, the other within the ark, a square fortified palace, which contains all the establishments of the king, is surrounded by a wall and ditch, and is entered by two gates. "The Harem is most numerous, and contains a female establishment as extensive as the public household. All the officers of the king's court are there represented by females. There are women feroshes, and there is a woman ferosh bashee; women chatters, and a woman chatter bashee; there is a woman arz begge, and a woman ish agassi; in short, there is a female duplicate for every male officer; and the king's service in the interior of the harem is carried on with the same etiquette and regularity, as the exterior economy of his state The women of the harem, who are educated to administer to the pleasures of the king by singing and dancing, are instructed by the best masters that the country can supply. An Armenian at Shiraz was unfortunately renowned for performing excellently on the kamouncha. The fame of his skill reached the king's ears, and he was immediately ordered up to court on the charge of being the best kamouncha player in his majesty's dominions. The poor man, who had a wife and family and commercial concerns at Shiraz, was during our stay detained at Teheran expressly to teach the king's women the art of playing on the kamouncha, "The king's family consists of sixty-five sons. As they make no account of females, it is not known how many daughters he may have; 1812. although he is said to have an equal number of both sexes. It sometimes happens, that many of his women are delivered on the same night, and (if we might give credit to a Persian) one of these happy coincidences occurred during our abode in the capital, when in one night six of his women were brought to bed, four of sons and two of daughters. The Ameen ed-Doulah had one, indeed, of the babes at his house; and a present was sent for it from Ispahan, composed of four mules laden with all sorts of rich clothes. "The Taht-a-Cadjar is a pleasure house built by the present king, about two miles to the northeast of Teheran. At a distance it presents a grand elevation, apparently of several stories; but these, on a nearer view, are the fronts of successive terraces. The entrance is through an indifferent gate, at the top of which is a summer-house. It leads into a spacious enclosure: in the middle is the principal walk, bounded on each side by some young cypress and poplar trees, and intersected at right angles in the centre by a stone channel, which conducts a stream at several intervals to small cascades. The building which stands on the first terrace is in form octagonal, crowned by a small flat roofed elevation. It is open by arches on all its sides, and its raised ceiling is supported by pillars. Its interior is arranged in a variety of water-channels, and through the centre passes the principal stream, which runs through the whole building and grounds. This little pleasure-house, though built of coarse materials and but rudely furnished, is erected on an excellent model, and is admirably calculated for the heats of the summer. Under it are subterraneous chambers. Pro ceeding |