'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from January 1847 to May 1849. Edited by the Secretary. Volume VIII.' [‎307] (416/496)

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the soil. Tins, however, is scarcely worthy of credit, for the upper surface
is smoothened as if designed for some record, while the lower part, as
£ir as we could feel by digging under it, appeared in a rough form.
From its weight, we did not possess the means of overturning it, and
can only surmise that it had been brought thus far on its way to Behis-
tan, when it was abandoned from the same causes that led to the incom
pletion of the palace of Khusru Parviz. From the stone the Khan of
Behistan bears west one farskh* distant, and the village of Sermaj due
south half that distance. From this spot to the village of Sermaj, the
plain is dotted with vestiges of substantial edifices, but, with the excep
tion of an old fort adjoining the village, no erect portions could be
traced. They lie scattered and broken in disordered masses, precluding
any hope of defining the nature of the structures. The ancient fort,
termed Kileh Khusru, is a well-constructed building of massive stone,
erected on the slopes of a still more ancient tumulus that is enclosed
within the quadrangle, and whose summit is now occupied by the miser
able hovels of its present tenants. Both it and the modern village of
Sermaj are situate in a secluded nook of some low undulating hills,
called the Kuhi Harun, that bound the plain of Chamabatan to the south.
A few cotton-fields and a poplar grove are watered by a copious spring
which here issues from the base of the undulations. The Kurdish
villagers called our attention to some large slabs, which they averred
were covered with written characters, but, on inspection, they proved to
be some simple devices that had been carved on a cornice of a building.
Our labors having been brought to a close on the 10th September,
the ladders were cast headlong from the rock into the plain below, to
prevent mutilation of the tablets. They were shivered into a thousand
pieces, and caused a shudder at the thought of a false footstep consign
ing one to the same fate.
September 11th .—A raw chilly morning saw us on horseback at 3*o0
A. m., on our return to Kirmanshah. The beautiful star Canopus,*]* the
* About three and a half English miles.
t Called by the Arabs Soheyl. It gives its name also, I think, to the S. S. E.
point of the Arabic compass, from the circumstance of the smallness of its or i , as
viewed from the Arabian latitudes, causing it to appear, on rising, in pie . . .
quarter. The Arabs entertain many curious notions relative to this live ^ s ar,
and relate as a positive fact that their cajaiels can see it reflected in wa ei ong
prior to its actual appearance above the horizon of the human obseiver. ie y
moreover affirm that these animals, if compelled to kneel or lie down wit i ieir
faces in the direction of the star, will invariably rise and turn their posteiiois o i ,
and this only as long as the star remains above the horizon. I have liequem y