'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from January 1847 to May 1849. Edited by the Secretary. Volume VIII.' [‎268] (377/496)

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of 130°; until we arrived at the village and Khan* of Surkhi-Dezr, at
midnight. Here we halted for the night, glad enough to exchange the
light clothing in which we had been clad since leaving Baghdad for the
warm beds that awaited us, spread out under the canopy of heaven on
the house-tops of the village. Sleep, however, did not visit us as soon as
we expected, although we had now been without rest for twenty-four
hours,—the splendid scenery around, and the delightful change in the
climate, serving as a subject of conversation for some time after we had
retired to rest.
Aujust 28th .—Resumed our march through the defile at 5h., over a
very rough road, and so narrow at times that the caravan was compelled
to proceed in single file. The morning was very cool and pleasant, a
fine easterly wind blowing down the defile. At 6*55 we arrived at the
ruins of the old fort of Sar-mil, anciently called Tur. From Surkhi-
Dezr to this place the general bearing is 135°. On the route we en
quired of our guides the present name of the Zagros range to our left,
and were surprised at hearing the appellation of Zarr applied to it. Major
Rawlinson deems this the original of the Greek Zagros, which is, indeed,
probable. At the fortress of Sar-mil the space between the mountain
ranges gradually expands as they extend to the S. E. into the rich plain
of Kirrind, abounding in water, and studded with the neat villages of the
Kirrind ryots. Sar-mil is mentioned in the old Turco-Persian treaties
^ The remains of a fire temple are seen close to the Khan, supported on massive
arches. This interesting relic of Magian adoration is on a spot will selected by
Those who made their altars the high places of earth, o’er-gazing mountains.
The fondness of the early Persians for elevated sites whereon to perform then"
religious observances has often been remarked, and Herodotus, in speaking of them,
remarks : —
a Their custom is to offer, from the summits of the highest mountains, sacrifices
to Jove, distinguishing by that appellation all the expanse of the firmamen •
They also adore the sun, the moon, earth, fire, water, and the winds, which may e
termed their original deities.”—Book I., Chap. 131.
He, however, shortly afterwards distinctly states that they possessed no temp
and sacrificed without the aid of fire. But in these respects we may P resmr ^
the historian has derived his information from a wrong source,—for fire temp 1 ^
must have originated when the system which Zoroaster is reputed to have .
ed, or reformed only, caused a revolution in the more ancient tonus of wors 11 P* ^
deed, long prior to the era of Herodotus, we have undoubted evidence in scn Pj e .
history of the existence of temples, and the employment of fire asasacie ^
ment in connection with the Mithraic worship of the sun. In Chap. 2m ^
10, 11, 19,—some seventy-five years before Cyrus ascended t ie i
ot Persia, and consequently nearly a century and a half before Heio o