"دليل بلاد فارس. مجلد I" [و‎‎١‎٦‎٨] (٨٢٠/٣٤٢)

and more or less fills up the south-east corner. Elsewhere, once the nar
row valley is left, the rough track winds across a maze of low hills, so much
so that internal communications are extraordinarily difficult. The altitude
®f the main valley is about 3,000 feet, and, partly owing to its shut-
in condition, it is extremely hot in summer. The mam water-supply
is drawn from the river ; but there are a few small springs of good
water. * The climate is unhealthy, and the mosquitoes so active that
everyone uses curtains—almost the only corner of Persia where this custom
prevails.
The darbandoi Arghivan Shah, by which we entered the fortress, is ! by
no means strong, and had been recently injured by a flood ; but at every
turn, towers or forts supplemented the handiwork of nature, the whole
constituting an impregnable position, if held by a resolute force. To-day,
however, the darband is garrisoned by a handful of ragged Persian
soldiery, who, by their appearance,-constitute a telling proof of the decay
of virility which has befallen historic Iran. A few yards beyond the
entrance we passed an inscription of Arghavan Shah or Arghun, after
whom the darband is named. It is of more than usual interest to recall
that it was this monarch who despatched an embassy to Kublai Khan,
and was thus instrumental in procuring the return of Marco Polo to
Europe, as he alone was acquainted with the sea route from China to
Persia, and was also deemed sufficiently trustworthy to take charge-
of the lady Kokachin, who, according to the illustrious Venetian, was moulti
bele dame et avenant. Arghun Shah, furthermore, sent embassies to the
Pope and to the kings of France and England. In 1290 Edw T ard I
accredited Geoffrey de Langley to visit the Moghul, with a gift of ‘ ‘ some
gerfalcons and other jewels of our land.”
” To resume, passing the inscription, we emerged from the gorge at the^
village of Arghavan^ Shah, which is inhabited by Jalayar and GarashuJ®
Turks. Thenceforward there was a continuous strip of cultivation with
numerous gardens. After passing a ruined ice-house, whence a track
leads to the Dihchi darband, we skirted a hamlet termed Khvarizm
Mahalleh. It is peopled by a few families from Khvarizm of Khiva,,
planted by Nadir Shah, who, like the monarehs of Chaldea, transported;
tribes from one side of Central Asia to another.
“Four miles from our camp we reached the Governor’s residence,
known as Kabud Gumbad or the “ Blue Dome,” a name derived from its
mosque.
“We returned his call on historic soil, for he received us in the gardens
in which is situated the Tmarat-i-Nadir or “Building of Nadir.” This
consisted of a central dome, some 90 feet in height, constructed of a variety
of stone resembling Devonian sandstone. The interior of the dome was
some 50 feet in diameter, and there were traces of decoration in gold, blue,
and black. This central dome of fluted pillars was surrounded by four
sets of rooms, each consisting of an arch with a chamber on either side.
The whole was cased with marble, which, with the utter disregard to means
displayed by Orientals, was quarried in Urumieh, near Tabriz, and
transported some 1,300 miles from the western to the eastern frontier of
Persia by forced labour, which, as Sir John Malcolm testifies, was the
source of much human misery. The stone panels are covered with trees;