We examined the fortifications and outer works. Some of these are almost level with the ground. Those that remain standing, every where pierced with cannon shot, have left ample traces of its destructive powers. Here, the action must have been desperate. The point of attack being on the eastern side of the city, it must have been necessary for the besiegers to escalade the garden walls, after having carried the outworks. We could distinctly trace the several breaches that had been made.'

On the 12th, our Travellers proceeded over the plain of the Diala, which they crossed at a ferry, to visit an excavated rock and obscure site, called the 'palace of Shereen. They were ' rather astonished' to hear the Arabs relate the well known tradition mentioned by Herodotus, that, in consequence of one of the horses dedicated to the sun having been lost in this river, Cyrus vowed that he would make it shallow enough for a lady to pass over without wetting her tunic. On leaving the plain, they entered the lowest range of Mount Zagros, the ancient boundary between the Assyrian and Median kingdoms, and which still divides the Arabian Irak from Irak Ajem. For five hours, they pursued a very rugged road over a succession of rounded limestone hills, and then traversing for three more a rich and well cultivated plain, arrived, almost worn out, at the caravanserai of Khizil Rubaut. To the S. W. of the village of Baradan, two hours from their halting place, is

It consists of a
From this mass

• a mound little inferior to the tower of Babel. raised platform 200 yards square, and 30 feet high. rises a quadrangular tower, 90 yards long, 50 yards wide, and 80 feet high. The whole consists of earth mixed with rounded pebbles: a portion to the N.E. which has recently fallen down, exhibits its structure of successive layers. From the quantity of broken bricks, it has evidently, like the Babylonian ruins, been coated with them. The centre of the mound is much injured; huge ravines being formed on three sides of it by the rain. We found numerous fragments of broken pottery, &c. Near the top of the upper mass, we saw a vessel containing the bones of animals. The appearance of this mound corresponds to the accounts given by Strabo and Pausanias of some Firetemples, which, on account of their being situated on large mounds of earth, they call 2000 μapoeders (μolds). Diodorus states, that Semiramis erected a number of them in Assyria. From the reverence in which these places of worship were held, and from their capability of defence, they became repositories of treasure. Strabo mentions, that in this country (Assyria), there was one called Azara, which was plundered by the Persians of ten thousand talents."

In the general character of this monument, there seems to be a near approach to that of the pyramid of Meduun, commonly called the False Pyramid, the most southerly of the groupe of Dahshour; and there can be little doubt that, like the temple

of Belus itself, it combined the temple and the sepulchre. The most ancient form of tumulus was a mound (xμa) surmounted with a a pillar (nan), cone, or tower; and in the case of sepulchres erected to monarchs and sacred or heroic personages, the tomb was surmounted with a temple. The prevalence of the custom of raising temples, altars, or shrines over tombs, with a view to secure a greater degree of reverence for the depositories of the dead, is indicated by the remarkable language of Athenagoras, who calls the temples of the ancients, Tapos, tombs. This name was afterwards retorted by the Pagan writers upon the Christians, when they began to practise the custom of burying the bones of martyrs in their churches. In some instances, the sepulchre was encompassed with an outer wall, and became, as the churches were often made in feudal times, a fortified sanctuary. And as places at once of the greatest sanctity and security, they were also employed as treasuries; so that the appellation of the Treasury of Atreus, applied to what is now believed to be the Tomb of Agamemnon, near Mycenæ, may not be altogether a misnomer. We are strongly inclined to believe, that the Great Pyramids of Memphis were in like manner intended to subserve, in subordination to their sacred character as sepulchres, the purpose of treasuries; that, with this view, they were rendered disguised fortresses; that the professed and known entrance was closed after the reception of the soros, a secret entrance being reserved, which was known only to the priests; and that the notion of the Mohammedan conquerors, which led them to force open these ancient monuments in the expectation of finding concealed treasure, rested upon the well-known fact, that tombs were often used for such a purpose, or originated in actual discoveries of concealed treasure in other ancient monuments.

On the 14th of April, our Travellers left Khizil Rubaut, and travelling in a N. E. direction over a succession of sand-stone hills, reached, at the end of five hours, the frontier town of Khanaki, situated on the Diala.

Khanaki, which is of reputed antiquity, defines the frontier of the Pashalick of Bagdad, and has met with a fate natural to its unfortunate position between two rival powers. About two years ago, it was taken by Mohummud Ali Meerza, and must at that time have had its share of the calamities of war. Upon the retreat of the Prince into Kermanshah, he left behind him a garrison of three hundred Coords, who were surprised by the Pasha of Bagdad, and, without exception, put to the sword. This catastrophe occurred only six months back.

• The works of devastation here, are even more marked than at any place we have yet seen. The fruit-trees in the gardens appeared to

have been recently cut down; the village is one entire scene of desolation. The caravanserai, which is large and in good repair, stands to the W. side, and when we arrived, was crowded with travellers. The few inhabitants, who have come after the general slaughter which so recently took place, occupy some huts adjoining; but we could procure nothing from them, and were supplied with some bread and eggs by the wandering tribes.'

The next day's journey, to Kisra Shereen, traversed a rocky region notorious as the haunt of robbers; and the party were actually reconnoitred by a band of Coords, who followed them from Khanaki, and who, as they afterwards learned, were deterred from attacking them, by finding them so much on their guard, and by their extravagant estimate of European prowess and skill in arms. It appeared also, that this band was under the protection of one of the principal courtiers of Kermanshah, who shared in its booty, and shielded it through the • influence of that corrupt government.' It was in the same part of the road that Sir Robert Ker Porter was attacked on his journey to Bagdad. Kisra Shereen was built by Kisra or Chosroes in honour of his beloved Shereen, the daughter of the Emperor Maurice. There are remains here of a very strong fort with massive walls and vaulted towers, and of an extensive palace of the same massive architecture. Fully to have surveyed the mass of ruins, our Author says, would have occupied at least two days; and Englishman-like, their 'desire of proceeding' was stronger than their curiosity. They had suffered, moreover, so much from heat, that they determined henceforward to travel by night. On the 22d, they reached Kermanshah, situated on the Karasou, which runs through the centre of the town. Three years before, this river, swelled by the mountain torrents, had inundated the lower parts of the city, and swept away a considerable portion of the inhabitants. Here, they were induced to accept of the proffered hospitality of two French officers in the service of his Highness of Kermanshah. In 1814, when the reverses of Napoleon had appeared to close every avenue to military advancement, those gentlemen had sought and found in the 'troubled regions of the East, an ample field for the gratifi'cation of their darling passion.' They frankly stated, that, at one time, they had intended to proceed to the Indus, for the purpose of offering their services to some Indian prince, who, they understood, wanted European officers to conduct his forces against the English; and the reason assigned for their abandoning this project, was evidently not the real one. A number of military men of different European nations, are at this moment wandering over Asia in search of employment

under the Mohammedan princes. Seven or eight of these, Capt. Keppel states, were at one time in the service of the prince of Kermanshah, Mohumud Ali, who are now dispersed over the East. The two French officers, Messrs. Court and De Veaux, as well as a rascally Spaniard, Señor Oms, were all khans (or lords) of Persia, and knights of the lion and sun, as well as of another order, instituted by the late prince, the insignia of which are a star, with the device of two lions fighting for the Persian crown; a pretty intelligible reference to his own declared pretensions to the succession. Capt. Keppel and his companions had the honour of an interview with the present prince-governor, Mohumud Hosein Meerza, by whom they were received with pointed affability. He told the French officers, that he should allow the strangers to be seated in his presence, an honour never granted to any of his court; and on this account, he recommended them not to be present.

A few minutes before our interview,' says our Author, Mons. De Veaux had been with the prince, to receive his instructions relative to the issuing of some clothing to those troops who were to escort the body of his father to Meshed Ali; and also respecting some other matters connected with the order of the funeral from Kermanshah, a ceremony which was to take place in two days. As the inspection of these arrangements was made in the public square, the Prince thought it necessary to play the mourner on the occasion. No sooner did he come in sight of the coffin which contained the remains of his father, than he threw off his cap, covered his head with ashes, and, rolling himself on the ground, bitterly bewailed the loss of so illustrious a prince and good a father. Having performed this ceremonial of grief with all the usual Eastern decorum, he re-adjusted his cap, clothed himself in a scarlet robe, and, in the short interval between the inspection and our visit, laid down the part of the mourner, and re-assumed that of the prince; so speedily, indeed, that, if we had not had a peep behind the curtain, we could not have believed that one actor could so speedily have performed two such different parts.'

This accomplished young gentleman was only two and twenty; he was nevertheless furnished with eighteen wives, and having been married some years, had a proportionate number ⚫ of children.' With great surprise he learned that his visiters were bachelors; and he repeatedly exhorted them to marry the moment they returned to Europe. Of the filial piety, virtuous morals, and other princely accomplishments of this august personage, the following paragraphs supply a striking

illustration.

A sudden discharge of cannon, followed by loud shrieks and lamentations, announced to us that the Prince had left the palace

with the body of his father. We took our station near the gates of the town, ready to fall in with the procession.......It issued slowly out of the town, led by the artisans: each craft had with it a black banner, and a horse equipped in the same mournful trappings. Next came two men renowned for their strength, carrying a large brass ornament representing a palm-tree. After them two hundred Coordish soldiers, who were to escort the corpse to Meshed Ali: they wore blue jackets, cut in the European fashion, and the rest of their dress was according to the costume of the country. The escort was preceded by a corps of drums and fifes playing a variety of tunes, principally English: "Rule Britannia" was one; and there were several country dances. After the military, came the representatives of the Church-a large body of mounted Moolahs (priests), headed by their Bashee (chief), a jolly drunken-looking fellow, who, with a voice amounting to a scream, recited verses from a Koran, in which he was joined by his followers, who made the air resound with their vociferous lamentations. Behind them was the corpse of Mohumud Ali Meerza, borne by two mules, in that sort of covered litter called in Persian a tukhte ruwaun.

'Immediately behind the corpse were Mohumud Hosein, the ruling Prince, and two of his brothers; the principal officers of the court closed the procession.

At intervals the cavalcade stopped, when every one, baring his breast, struck it so violently with his hand, that the flesh bore visible marks of the severity of the discipline: at these times the shouts were redoubled, and tears flowed copiously from every eye. Large groupes of women, veiled from head to foot, and huddled together almost into shapeless heaps, were seated on each side of the road, and were by no means the least (most?) silent mourners of the party.

We fell in with the French officers in rear of the troops; two or three chiefs were in the same line with us. Immediately on my right was a handsome young man, whose eyes were red with weeping. He had been a favourite follower of the late Prince, for whom he had entertained a most sincere attachment; and I was beginning to sympathise with him in his sorrows, when it was insinuated that it was just possible, wine, and not grief, had caused his tears to flowa surmise that his subsequent behaviour in some degree warranted.

After proceeding about a mile, we quitted the procession, and halting on one side of the road, waited till the Prince had given us the murukhus, or permission to depart. His eyes were much inflamed, and tears chased each other down his cheeks. Thus far the ceremonial of grief had been conducted with the greatest propriety; and any one witnessing the mournful demeanour of the Prince this morning, would have been impressed with a high opinion of his filial piety. The day closed on a scene of a very different description. The funeral procession arrived at Mahidesht near sunset, when his Highness ordered the caravanserai to be cleared of its inmates, and, taking with him several boon companions, this sorrowing son passed. the night in drinking and singing, determined to keep his father's wake in the true Irish fashion, and, if any grief or care remained,