'Narrative of a journey to the site of Babylon in 1811, now first published: memoir on the ruins; with engravings from the original sketches by the author: remarks on the topography of ancient Babylon, by Major Rennell; in reference to the memoir: second memoir on the ruins; in reference to Major Rennell's remarks: with narrative of a journey to Persepolis: now first printed, with hitherto unpublished cuneiform inscriptions copied at Persepolis: by the late Claudius James Rich, Esq., formerly the Resident of the Hon. East India Company at Bagdad. Edited by his widow.' [‎232] (330/474)

232
JOURNEY TO PERSEPOLIS.
westerly direction, often terminating as they began.
These rocks of marble, with and weather
stains, frequently perpendicular, especially the upper
part, and shivered so as to look prismatic or columnar,
pioduced a most singular effect. One of the lines
of these rocks looked remarkably like an inhospitable
rocky shore. This was the plain of Persepolis.
We proceeded at a rapid pace, and, as we passed
along, we saw down some of the ramifications of the
plain, made by the lines of rocks above mentioned,
numerous encampments of Eliauts, who hereabouts,
I was informed, are of the Turkish race.
At half-past six we came to the river Araxes,
which we crossed by a bridge of two very high arches
and three smaller ones. It is sometimes a deep and
dangerous torrent, and even now the body of water is
considerable, though confined in a narrow channel.
It is sometimes called the Merdesht, and sometimes
the Colvar-water, which are the names of the districts
through which it passes, and at this season of the
year it is drawn off for the cultivation of rice and
cotton.
Just at the west end of the bridge commences a
line of rocks, which runs up towards the north-west
thiee or foui miles and then terminates. Here we
met some Eliauts, who called themselves Arabs, but
had no appearance of it. We halted at the bridge
until eight, when we mounted again, and proceeded
very rapidly along the fine level plain of Merdesht;
the latter part of which was intersected by water-