'Narrative of a Residence in Koordistan, and on the Site of Ancient Nineveh; with Journal of a Voyage down the Tigris to Bagdad and an Account of a Visit to Shirauz and Persepolis.' [‎272] (307/450)

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RUINS OF HAOUSH KEREK.
north are two narrow passages, the boundary of the
last being the enclosure wall. Whether the whole of
the building was once terraced over like the platform
of the palace, is difficult to say. In the courts I saw
no quantity of rubbish that one could conclude to
proceed from the terrace having fallen in ; but the
passages had certainly been vaulted over.
My people immediately said this was the harain,
and, indeed, there have been many worse conjectures.
The whole building is, like all the rest, built of sand
stone. All that I have yet seen of the Sassanian
works gives me no high idea of their taste or mag
nificence. I conjecture these, as well as the ruins ol
Kasr i Shireen, to have been one of the many hunt
ing palaces and parks which we know the Sassanian
kings to have possessed. W hen richly painted,
gilded, and ornamented, they might have been worth
seeing ; in their present state of ruins, they are cer
tainly not imposing. There arc no other ruins or
traces of building here than what I have described.
We did not remain the night at Haoush Kerck,
but mounted at eleven and inarched through the
plain of Bajilan in the Pashalik of Zehav, which
enabled me to establish a number of interesting
geographical points, and solve difficulties no other
means could have cleared up, especially the complete
tracing of the Diala. We continued our way over
the tops of the hills till one, when we descended into
the plain, through which we saw the Diala winding