'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.' [‎272] (303/582)

272
VISIT TO THE RUINS OF PERSEPOLIS.
tures are particularly fine, thougli parts of them are now buried,
and other parts broken; and even the portions least injured are
discoloured by a thin moss grown over the surface. Horizontal
lines of open flowers, like the rose or lotus, are in some places seen
dividing the compartments, which is also an Egyptian device.
This portion of the ruins seems to have been a grand open
portico, consisting of many rows of columns, supporting only
architraves; and below them are oblong blocks, as if for pedestals
of sphynxes. The several columns erect are all fluted : some of
them being of the same design as those already described; and
others, the capitals of which appear to be gone, being much higher
in proportion to their diameter.
Above this, on a still higher platform, to the southward, is
seen an assemblage of different sanctuaries, which are quite Egyp
tian in their style. The first of these that we entered was a
square of about thirty feet, having two doors on the north, one on
the south, two on the west, and one on the east. These are per
fectly Egyptian in every respect, as may be seen from the draw
ings of those that exist: they are composed of three pieces—two
portals and an architrave, and above this the cornice. Their
inner surfaces are sculptured with designs representing the sacri
fices of beasts. The priests have umbrellas held over them as in
India, and the guards are armed with spears. Between the doors
are monoliths, like those used in Egypt, for keeping the sacred
animals, and about the same size. Around these were inscriptions
of the arrow-headed character. The gates were closed, not by
doors, but by bars only, of which the sills still remain; but both
the open and closed monoliths, the first being like mere window-
frames, had each folding doors of metal, as the holes for the pivots,
both above and below, were too small to afford sufficient strength
to stone. Some of these monoliths are quite perfect, and might be
easily brought to the British Museum, by way of Bushire. Each
of them were highly polished, and one especially appeared to