'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from January 1847 to May 1849. Edited by the Secretary. Volume VIII.' [‎293] (402/496)

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to the map while fresh in the memory, and it is satisfactory to state that
the minutiae of the Boad-book has in the aggregate been corroborated
by our astronomical observations.
Sept, kth —-The ladders for the ascent of the Behistan cliffs being
ready, we left Kirmanshah at 5*5 A. M., on a delightfully cool morning.
Proceeded due east, or 90°, until 6*5, when the Kara-Su was crossed by
a substantial bridge called Puli Shah. Continued in the same direction
over a fine plain having the Parrow range of hills at a distance of four
miles to the left of the road. Passed by several villages of cultivators,
and exchanged greetings with some caravans of pilgrims en route from
the capital to Baghdad and Kerbela. At 9h. A. M. the road inclined a
little more northerly towards the hills over the site of some ancient
buildings whose alignments can now scarcely be traced ; but the nume
rous fragments of columns, cut stones, pedestals, and capitals of a Sassa-
nian design, attest it as a ruin of that age.
From 9*45 to 10*15, the road turned to the north in a gradual curve
as we rounded the termination of the Parrow range, known by the ap
pellation of the “ Bock of Behistan.” At the latter time the Caravan-
lonia, and constitute a very strong position. The elevation of the citadel of Halebi
is 316 feet above the river. It is in latitude 35° 42' N., and lies in the direct road
between Palmyra and Nisibir, and in times long prior to the Zenobian Era may
even have held a more conspicuous place, as a central entrepot between the port of
Tyre and the N. E. Provinces of Assyria.
I had just finished the above note, when a letter was placed in my hands by an
inhabitant of Anah, a small town on the Euphrates. A portion of it is applicable to
the above subject, and as I have never heard of a similar exhumation, during my ser-
vice in these countries, I venture to transcribe the extract rendered into English:
“ Some workmen were lately digging under a part of the old castle at Anah, and
in the course of their labors they disinterred an old box, or coffin. It was found
to contain a smaller case, which on being opened exposed the remains of some wild
or rare bird, swathed up in linen. ,,
This rare bird, we may therefore presume, is a vestige of Egyptian adoration;
either the eagle, ibis, or a hawk, and will, I think, tend to shew that Anah was
the abode of an Egyptian colony. The sacred birds and animals of the Egyptians
were regarded with peculiar awe, and the rites and ceremonies observed on their
death partook of a religious character: their bodies were embalmed and enclosed
in consecrated coffins. See Herodotus, Book II., Diod. Sic. I., Chap. 6 and 7.
The many substantial works met with in the bed of the Euphrates and on tho
Islands contiguous to the present town of Anah, would claim them to be regarded
as the relics of a remote age. But for the etymology of the present name wo
must, I think, refer to the Greek ’AyaOvco, which I deem strictly applicable to the
locality from the many rapids formed by a number of rocky islands, and numerous
aitificial obstructions, occasioning at all times an impetuous and roaring torrents
lo the Romans it was known by the name of Anathe.