"رحلة ثانية عبر بلاد فارس، أرمينيا وآسيا الصغرى إلى القسطنطينية، بين سنتي ١٨١٠ و١٨١٦. مع يوميات الرحلة مروراً بالبرازيل وبومباي وصولاً إلى الخليج العربي. مع تقرير لإجراءات السفارة البريطانية تحت إدارة السير جور أوسيلي، البارونيت، فارس وسام الأسد والشمس، مع خريطتين ونقوش من تصميم المؤلف." [‎٣‎٨‎٤] (٥١٦/٤٥٢)

384
SHAHMIRZAD.
given him an asylum on a particular emergency, have for that service
been exempted from paying the regular tithes. The village at which
we rested was thickly shaded with walnut, poplar, and fruit-trees, and
counts three hundred houses.
On the 6th, we set off early for Shahmirzad, a long distance of
ten hours, which we calculated forty-five miles. After setting out, we
were indeed obliged to return to our original road, which produced a
considerable angle. From Toweh, we mounted a long and steep ascent,
and in four hours got to the Rasvi Rudbar; where we still found the
same encampment of black tents which we had seen on our way to the
King's camp. We continued on this road for a short time, with the
mountains covered with pines, bordering the valley, and then instead
of going through the narrow pass leading to Asseran, we struck off in a
S. S. W. direction through a most dreary track, without w T ater, until we
reached an eminence, whence we descried the site of Shahmirzad,
marked by trees in the nook of the mountains. It looked quite close
to us, but we were two hours in getting to it; distance like time, appears
small unless there is a succession of objects to mark it. Before reaching
the village on the left hand of the road, there is a conspicuous mound
of earth, very much resembling the tumuli of Troy and Greece. If
the body of Darius had not been sent to be buried among the Kings of
Persia, I should willingly believe it to have marked his tomb, or at least
the spot where he was killed.
Shahmirzad is a large place, embosomed within trees, and forms a
central emporium to the extensive tracts of cultivation about it. It is
also under the jurisdiction of Zulfakar Khan, whose chief place is Sem-
nan, distant about three fursungs. The women of Shahmirzad are par
ticularly lair, and the climate is reported to be very salubrious.
We proceeded on the 7th to a pasture called Goursefid, or the White
Sepulchre, which we reached in 5$ hours, and calculated the road
distance to be 25 miles. We first crossed the mountains that gird
Shahmirzad to the northward, through a very difficult pass, which
adds one more to the many curious pylce which we have seen in this part
of Persia, and again returned to our former road, on which we entered