'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.' [‎403] (438/450)

APP. VII.]
TAUK KESRA.
403
We arrived at Taj at 9". From thence to Tauk Kesra
they reckon six reaches. At 4 h p.m . saw over the land we
had left the tomb which gives name to Taj, but I could not
learn who is buried there. Before sun-set Tauk Kesra was
visible from the mast-head. About 2 h in the morning we
got aground, and did not get off again before 6 h . At 3 U 30 m
we were favoured with a light south-easterly breeze, and we
arrived at the south extremity of the wall of Ctesiphon,
called the Bostan, and anchored at 9 h 30 m abreast or rather
a little in the rear of the Tauk, to the N. of the mosque
called Hodheifa.
On the 28th I landed to sketch Tauk Kesra, and again
made some measurements. The thickness of the face at
the bottom is twenty bricks, just above the first swell eleven,
at the top seven. (Jn the other wing, just above the swell,
there is fifteen bricks. I found in the town walls a layer
of reeds between each layer of bricks.
We crossed over and wandered about the ruins of Seleu-
cia, almost the only vestige of which that remains is a part
of the N. face of the city wall. The wall must have been
of great height and thickness, and built of unburnt bricks,
with a layer of reeds between every layer of brick, as at
Ctesiphon and Babylon.
At 7 h 30 m we again got under way. At 2" of the morning
of the 29th, we passed the mouth of the Diala, and about
5 h anchored at Gherara, whence rode up to Bagdad.
2D 2