'Travels in Assyria, Media, and Persia, including a journey from Bagdad by Mount Zagros, to Hamadan, the ancient Ecbatana, researches in Ispahan and the ruins of Persepolis, and journey from thence by Shiraz and Shapoor to the sea-shore. Description of Bussorah, Bushire, Bahrein, Ormuz, and Muscat, narrative of an expedition against the pirates of the Persian Gulf, with illustrations of the voyage of Nearchus, and passage by the Arabian Sea to Bombay.' [‎157] (188/582)

TO BISITOON AND KENGAWAR. 257
four hundred and forty-four thousand inhabited dwellings. The
population is even at present greater than that of Bagdad: the
people are chiefly Soonnees, and are still famous for their works in
metal, particularly swords, and other arms, of the ancient iron of
Khorassan, which is superior to that of Damascus.
On most of these subjects I had questioned him very closely;
and though politeness, and a wish to acquiesce in my views, might
have in some instances influenced his replies, yet, in almost all
cases, he evidently understood the subject well, and hesitated,
denied, approved, or explained, as the occasion seemed to him to
require.
The Dervish was also well acquainted with the account given
by Mirkhond, of the taking of the true cross of Christ, as well as
with the tradition, that Poorandocht, a Persian queen, had re
stored it to Jerusalem, and that Shah Abbas had taken it again
from the Turks ; and in reciting all the passages that he remem
bered, from his reading, on this subject, he concluded with
the beautiful distich of Ferdousi, expressive of the transitory
nature of human greatness—" The spider weaves his web in the
palace of the Caesars, and the owl keeps her watch, like a sentinel,
upon the ruined tower of Afrasiab."
In calling himself a Soofee, he was well acquainted with the
modern application of that term to a sect of Indian philosophers,
called Pramnae, by Strabo, who were uninfluenced by the super
stitions of the country in which they lived (India), and who were
in constant opposition to the Bramins, and entered into contro
versy with them, on their particular tenets, whenever occasion
offered. He knew also that the Soofees of his own day had
endeavoured to reconcile the ancient doctrines of the Metemp
sychosis, as taught by the Hindoos, and the two principles of
good and evil, as taught by Zoroaster, with the tenets of the
Christian religion*
* One of the leaders of this sect, at one time, retired to a cavern, after the fashion of im
postors, and brought out from thence paintings and writings, which he pretended to have