Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎618v] (1253/1814)

PERSIA
228
overhangs the Kazerun valley, and emerge into the upper end of
the Dasht-i-Barm, or Valley of Oaks, thus avoiding the Kotal-i-
Dokhter. Finally, the Old Woman can be escaped by striking
the mountains at a point two miles east of the present road, where
the range dips into the Dasht-i-Arzen. 1 There is also, of course,
the more circuitous southern route, from Bushire to Shiraz by
Firuzabad, but this is considerably longer, being about 210 to 220
miles. 2 It was down this latter route that the Persians brought
their guns in 1857, only incontinently to abandon them as soon
as they had reached the plain. The ascent would be a more
difficult undertaking, and would require the preparatory labours
of a large force of sappers.
About six miles south of Borazjun is the small hamlet of
Khushab, which was the scene of the night attack made by the
Persians upon the British force under Sir J. Outram,
Khushal) ^ February 8, 1857—the sole exploit indulged in by
1 Vide a Letter by J. J. Fahie in the Journal of the Society of Arts, April 1883.
2 a s x have mentioned the Bushire-Firuzabad-Shiraz line, which is taken by
some travellers, I may add a reference to the sites or sights which render it
notable. The route has been described by E. Scott Waring (1802), Tour to Sheeraz,
cap. xxvi.; and Mme. Dieulafoy (1881), La Perse, caps xxvi-viii. For the
section from Firuzabad to Shiraz, vide the authorities cited in the Table of Routes
at the end of cap. xx. Firuzabad, or the Abode of Victory, is the name given in
the tenth century by the Asad-ed-Dowleh of the Buy ah dynasty to a place
originally founded by the Achmmenian, and subsequently embellished by the
Sassanian monarchs, and known as Jur, Khur, or Glur. Here Ardeshir Babekan
built a palace and a great atesh-gah or fire-temple. The remains now visible at
Firuzabad are- four in number: (1) the Kaleh-i-Dokhter, a ruined castle upon
the heights commanding the Teng-ab, a gorge to the north of the town ; (2) two
Sassanian bas-reliefs sculped on the walls of the same defile, the one repeating
the subject of the bas-relief at Naksh-i-Rustam, viz. the investiture of Ardeshir
with the imperial cydaris by Ormuzd, the other representing an equestrian
combat; ( 3 ) the ruins of a great vaulted building, generally recognised as the
palace of Ardeshir, though attributed by some to an earlier period (Stack [vol. i
py). 91-2] very strangely mistakes it for the fire-temple) ; (4) a ruined tower of
unhewn stone masonry, built upon a platform, and retaining traces of a winding-
outside ascent from terrace to terrace, like the Babylonian temples—which is
commonly identified with the great atesh-gah or fire altar of Ardeshir, but to
which Perrot (Histoire de VArt, vol. v. p. 650) attributes a secular or military
origin. I have already said that Firuzabad is the official residence of the nominal
Ilkhani The paramount chief of certain tribes in south west Iran. of the Kashkai tribes of Fars. For illustrations of the ruins of Firuzabad,
vide Flandin and Coste, vol. i. pis. 34-44; and M. Hieulafoy, L'Art Antique de
la Perse, part iv. pis. 9-20. Upon the architecture of the Sassanian palaces in
general, and of Firuzabad and Sarvistan in particular, vide Canon S. Rawlinson’s
Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy, cap.xxvii.; Fergusscn’s History of Architecture,
vol. i.; and Perrot and Chipiez’ monumental work already cited.
I