"سرد لرحلة إلى موقع مدينة بابل في ١٨١١، طُبعت الآن لأول مرة: مذكرات على الأطلال؛ مع نقوش من الخرائط المدبئية للمؤلف: ملاحظات على طبوغرافية بابل القديمة،بقلم الرائد رينيل؛ في إشارة إلى المذكرات: مذكرات ثانية على الأطلال؛ في إشارة إلى ملاحظات الرائد رينيل: مع سرد لرحلة إلى برسبوليس: طُبعت الآن لأول مرة، مع كتابات مسمارية نسخت في برسبوليس ولم تُنشر من قبل: كتبها الراحل كلوديوس جيمس ريتش، المحترم، المقيم البريطاني السابق لشركة الهند الشرقية في بغداد. حررته أرملته." [‎٢‎٠‎٨] (٤٧٤/٣٠٦)

208
JOURNEY TO PERSEPOL1S.
bad precipice, but not of long continuance, nor was
the road very narrow, but it obliged me to dismount
for a few minutes. The hills grew more ruinous as
we advanced ; large masses of stone almost blocked
up the narrow winding passes. The people said it
was the effect of earthquakes, but the whole range
of hills seem to be in a state of decomposition. We
soon after lost sight of the river and began to ascend
the Kutal i Meloo, which is steep, and zigzags up the
face of the rock, being much encumbered with frag
ments of rock and fallen stones, but by no means so
bad as I had been taught to expect. Indeed the
whole of the road would in Koordistan have been
deemed very tolerable.
At the top of the pass was a guard-house, through
the gate of which the road passes. The commandant
asked us for a bakshish, but in a very humble
manner, and by no means as a right. Some sum
mits of mountains appeared higher than the top
of the pass, but I do not believe any part of this
range is above 1000 feet high; I should say not
above 800 feet*.
We now immediately entered on the plain of
Konar Takhta, and in about three miles' march from
the top of the pass, along a fine level road, we
reached the village and caravanserai of Konar
Takhta. The latter was not so large as the one at
Daulekee, but possessed the advantage of a Balak-
* They appear to me like the Rabban Hormuzd hills.