be green: the leaves hereof consist of divers parts, and are covered with a whitish barke, the branches are more divided into wings, about which are certaine little ones, of an odd number, something broad, more long than round, smooth, and somewhat fat, of a gray colour, or greenish blew: the floures in the tops of the branches are of a pale yellow, consisting of four little leaves, something hollow, in the middle of which standeth up a little head or button, four-square, seldom five-square, containing as many coffers as it hath corners, being compassed about with divers little yellow threds, out of which hang pretie fine tips, of one colour. The seed groweth in the little coffers: the root is woody, and fastened with many strings. This rue hath a very strong and rank smell, and a biting taste: it joyeth in sunnie and open places: it prospereth in rough and brickie ground. Among the ancient Greeks and Romans this herb was held in great esteem. The Greeks used it, together with parsley, for the bordering of their gardens, and as the gardens could not be entered without passing this border, it became a proverb among them, when any persons were about to enter on an undertaking, but had not yet taken any steps towards it, "You are not yet arrived at the parsley and rue.” The uses to which the ancients applied this plant were many of them very superstitious, and it was generally believed that the efficacy of the plant was enhanced by stealing it from a neighbour's garden. In Aristotle's time rue was worn about the neck as a charm against witchcraft. That rue was planted to a considerable extent among the Romans appears from the directions of Pliny to rue gatherers, that they keep their hands well gloved, to avoid the blisters which the pungency of this herb is apt to produce. The same author notices the poisonous nature of the juice of rue, when taken in too great quantity, especially that drawn from the rue which grew in Macedonia, about the river Aliacmon, and in Galatia, and states that juice of hemlock destroys this poisonous quality. The juice of rue was kept in boxes made of brass or copper, and was used against the sting of serpents, scorpions, bees, hornets, &c., and for the bite of mad dogs. It was employed to foment the limbs of persons benumbed with cold: it was drunk with wine to cure the head-ache: it was taken likewise to prevent the consequences of excess in drinking. The leaves were eaten by engravers, carvers, and painters, as a preservative to the eye-sight: others just touched the corners of their eyes with the juice, to cure weakness of vision. A drink was made from it for the cure of all complaints incident to four-footed animals: its reputed virtues are, in fact, too numerous and too contradictory to be recounted here. Besides the medicinal uses for which this herb was valued among the Romans, it was also esteemed on account of the flavour it imparted to their wines. Columella, in speaking of it, says, And rue, which the Palladian berries' taste excels; and Pliny informs us that when Cornelius Cethegus was chosen consul with Quintius Flaminius, he gave to the people, after the election, a largess of new wine, aromatized with rue. This would probably be very repugnant to modern taste, for this herb is intolerably bitter. The leaves of rue are said to have formed a principal ingredient in the famous antidote to poison, used by Mithridates, king of Pontus. This antidote, with slight alterations, has been in use for nearly nineteen centuries, and is still employed on the Continent. It has been exploded in Britain, and laughed at as an absurd farrago, ever since Dr. Heberden published his Antitheriaca. Pliny tells us that the weasel is so well acquainted with the virtues and powers of rue, that before he attacks the serpent he eats the herb to prevent the poison from taking effect. Macer, who wrote his Latin poem about twenty years before the Christian era, notices the same thing, and an old naturalist has given the following translation of the lines: And weezels teach, it can withstand strong poyson's spite, Which, when they are about with serpents black to fight, In wondrous sort do first of all rue nibble, eat, and bite. If we look into the writings of the old medical practitioners and herbalists of our own country, we shall find the qualities of this plant described in much the same exaggerated strain that we have noticed in the ancient One tells us that the authors of Greece and Rome. very smell of rue has been known to preserve from infection during pestilence, and therefore we are to wear a nosegay of it whenever we visit a person ill of any contagious disease; and that if we would be still farther secured from danger, we must chew some of the leaves, or eat of a conserve of rue. Another affirms that by eating the leaves of rue, persons may cure themselves of the king's evil. A third tells us that the juice of rue. made hot in the rind of a pomegranate, and dropped into the ears, is a cure for the ear-ache, and is also a remedy for shingles, St. Anthony's fire, and other disorders; that the herb itself, a little boiled or scalded, kept in pickle, and eaten, is good for dimness of the eyes, and, boiled in vinegar, relieves shortness of breath and pain in the chest, side, or joints. A fourth ascribes to it the virtue of curing gout and dropsy, and of removing ringworm, warts, and all diseases of the skin. A fifth pronounces it to be excellent in all illnesses of the stomach which proceed from a cold cause, and only dangerous in the too frequent use of it; and a sixth is so full of its praises, that at the close of his remarks he declares that the greatest commendation he can bestow upon it falls short of its merits. But we would not have our readers misled by these extravagant eulogiums, or induced, by this slight mention of them, to employ the herb in the way, or for the puropinions of modern and better-skilled persons, who poses above named. Let them rather attend to the assure us that its usefulness is uncertain and unimportant, and who at the same time acquaint us that large and repeated doses produce parching thirst, burning pain of the stomach and bowels, head-ache, delirium, and death. Wild rue is much more energetic in its action than the cultivated sort, and therefore more caution is required in using it. Gerard declares it to be virulent and pernicious, and says that it sometimes "fumeth out a vapour or air, so hurtful that it scorcheth the face of other accidents: it venometh their hands that touch it, him that looketh upon it, raising up blisters, wheales, and and will infect the face also, if it be touched with them before they be clean washed, wherefore it is not to be admitted into meat or medicine." Rue is a hardy shrub, and is easily cultivated by planting the seeds, or slips, or cuttings, early in the spring months. It blossoms in July and August, or, if it be in a warm country, or in a sheltered situation, still earlier. According to Pliny, there is such friendship between it and the fig-tree that it prospers nowhere so well as under a fig-tree. Plutarch notes the same circumstance in his first booke of the Symposiacks or Feasts, and says it becomes more sweet and mild in such situations, because it takes away some of the sweetness of the fig-tree, and parts with some of its own bitter flavour. CHRISTIANITY is not a latitudinarian religion, proposing a variety of independent doctrines, and leaving to the choice of its professors, which they will embrace, and which they will reject but it is a religion precise and definite; it proposes a system of truths, mutually connected with and dependent on each other; it represents those truths as the fit tious belief and profession of them it promises happiness; on objects of a Christian's faith; and to a sincere and consciena wilful disbelief and rejection of them it denounces woe. BISHOP MANT. FRESH-WATER FISH. INTRODUCTION. Each rising charm the bounteous stream bestows, Most fishes, in addition to the great fin on the tail, are furnished with two pairs of fins upon the sides, two single fins upon the back, and one upon the belly, or between the belly and the tail. These fins are highly important as organs of motion, and they enable the naturalist, by their structure, position, and number, to distinguish orders, families, and genera. But the chief instrument of velocity is the tail, aided by the strength and pliancy of the back-bone: by the impulse of this organ alone the animal darts through the water with the swiftness of an arrow, the wedge-shaped head enabling it to divide the water with ease. But whether in pursuit of prey or avoiding an enemy, the smaller fins are all laid close to its body: these fins are too minute and flexible, compared with the animal's weight, to impel it so quickly; their peculiar office is to adjust and modify the motion imparted by the energy of the tail. The ventral and dorsal fins keep the fish in its proper position, and by means of the former fin the fish is probably assisted in raising or depressing its body in the water. The pectoral fins assist and regulate progressive swimming rapidly; and by folding either, while the other continues to play, the turn to the left or right is accomplished. The balancing use of the fins has been shown by experiments on several large-headed fish. WHEN We consider that water occupies more than twothirds of the globe, we shall have no difficulty in admitting the statement made by naturalists, that fishes constitute by far the most numerous class of vertebrated animals, both as respects the number of individuals and the variety of their forms. Indeed, the constant accessions which are being made to our knowledge of fishes, and other considerations, lead us to suppose that not more than half the existing species are known and described. The natural history of fishes is more imper-motion: by extending them, the progress is stopped when fect than that of quadrupeds, birds, and insects, because their native abode is of vast dimensions, and can to a very limited extent only be explored by man, from whose curious eye fishes can easily withdraw themselves into haunts inaccessible to the inhabitants of the land; thus the study of Ichthyology, interesting and beautiful as it is, presents more difficulties than any other department of natural history. Fishes were arranged by Linnæus in six principal orders, and subdivided into several tribes. Four of these were marked by the position of their ventral or belly fins, and two by their gills. But the most approved arrangement is that of Cuvier, who places fishes in the fourth class of organic beings, the first three comprising beasts, birds, and reptiles. The class of fishes he divides into two sub-classes, viz., 1st, cartilaginous, and 2nd, osseous fishes. In the former the bones are gristly, and in the latter firm, although far less compact than in the higher orders of animals. The general form of fishes is cylindrical, pointed more or less at each end, and slightly compressed at the sides; but this form is subject to many extraordinary variations, adapted to the economy of the animal: some fish are short and round--others are elongated ;--some are compressed-others depressed: the most common form, however, is that first given, a familiar example of which is presented by the mackerel, which exhibits, as Mr. Yarrell remarks, "the highest degree of elegance in shape, and when recently taken from the water, is so rich and so varied in its colour, as to be fairly entitled to be considered one of the most beautiful among British fishes." It is almost superfluous to remark that the forms of fishes are admirably adapted to their general habits and economy, because we know how much gracious provision is made by the Almighty for all His creatures. This fact is so constantly witnessed by the naturalist, and he sees it illustrated in so many thousand ways, almost at every advancing step which his improving knowledge leads him, that while it constitutes a principal charm in the study of natural history, it often brings up to his mind the gentle monition of the Saviour, that God, who forgetteth not the sparrows, who feedeth the ravens and clotheth the grass of the field, will not discontinue His watchful care over those whom He has declared to be far better than they. The external form of fishes tends to celerity and ease of motion: man has imitated this modelling in the build of those ships in which the quickest despatch is needful; but human competition against the perfection of nature's works always fails, for all the larger fishes can not only overtake the fastest-sailing vessel, but play around it, apparently without any unusual effort. Fishes are furnished with certain protecting organs, which have been divided into the three distinct processes of skin, scales, and spines. The skin consists of the dermis, or true skin, a mucous tissue, and an epidermis, or cuticle. The mucous tissue, which in all animals is the seat of colour, is remarkable in fishes for its brilliant tints and iridescent reflections. The cuticle is generally covered with a mucous secretion, which also extends to the scales. The scales when viewed by the microscope present a wonderful and beautiful construction: they serve many important purposes in the general economy of fishes. The sharp spinous appendages, which are placed in different parts of the body in different fishes, seem intended as weapons either of defence or of offence. The inhabitants of the waters as well as those of the land depend upon the oxygen of the atmosphere for respiration: the quantity of air necessary to sustain the life of a fish is smaller than that required by warm-blooded animals; but a greater or less supply of air is essential to every living being. The death of fish in a severe frost is in consequence of the congelation of the surface of the water, whereby the external air is excluded: the poor animals below the sheet of ice must perish unless an opening be made to admit the air: we see the fishes themselves bear witness to the fact that they cannot live without air, in the eagerness with which the suffocating creatures crowd round any opening made in the ice. The inconvenience they suffer is so great as to deprive them on these occasions of their natural timidity, for they can be caught by the hand without difficulty. The peculiar motion of the fish's mouth and gill-lids as if in the constant act of drinking, (whence the vulgar saying, as thirsty as a fish,") is nothing more than the act of respiration. The gills, which act the part of lungs, are placed externally: they may be described as consisting, in the bony fishes, of four arched bones placed in succession close behind the mouth on each side, and covered by an operculum or gill-lid. On these arched bones are spread out several fine laminæ, or thin membranous folds, in which the artery bringing the blood from the heart, spreads itself out into very numerous and minute ramifications. The operculum is moveable by means of muscles attached to it. The fish in respiring takes a mouthful of water, and passing it to the back of its mouth allows it to remain there a moment in contact with the gills, through which at the same time the blood is passing freely. Water, exposed to the air, always contains a portion of that fluid, and the air thus dissolved by the water acts upon the fish's blood; the fish then lifts its operculum and causes the water to be discharged back- | projecting coverlids: this flatness, however, is compenwards. The blood being thus aërated is again collected sated by the greater magnifying power of the crystalfrom very fine branches into trunks, which, running line lens. But the particular form and situation of the from each of the branchial ribs, finally unite and form eyes of fishes vary in different species according to their the aorta for conveying the blood to the whole body. position in the waters, their general habits, and the mode From this, the blood is returned by the veins to a simple in which they pursue their When we look upon prey. auricle, thence it passes into a single ventricle, which, in the surface of the waters, and our eye seeks in vain to turn, drives it into the branchial artery, and so back to penetrate the depth, we must not suppose that their the gills again. From what we have said of the mode inhabitants are similarly circumstanced with respect to of respiration, it is clear that a trout, before it attempts us. When we are on the outside of a room, we know how to breathe, must turn its head up against the stream. difficult it is to distinguish objects within, especially Were it to attempt this operation facing down the stream when the solar light falls obliquely upon the glass: but it would in vain try to let out the water from its gills, those within the room have no such difficulty: they can for as soon as it had lifted its operculum, the current see clearly all that passes without; and this we may fairly would pour in water from behind, in place of suffering presume to be the case with fishes-they can see clearly it to discharge what was there. It therefore becomes objects out of the water, while we cannot often see them part of the angler's art, to keep the head of the trout he has in the water. Much light is absorbed below certain hooked down the stream, in which situation it cannot depths from the surface, and we find that those fishes attempt to breathe, and is therefore the sooner ex- which dive deep have very large organs of sight. hausted." (LORD's Popular Physiology.) Many fishes are furnished with a bladder filled with air, and placed in the upper part of the abdomen close against the spine; this has been thought to assist the function of respiration. It is however more probable that the air-bladder is destined to assist the animal's movements; for we find it largest in such fishes as move with great velocity. This organ is wanting in flat-fish, where, however, the large lateral fins supply its place; also in the lamprey, which, in consequence, moves but slowly along the bottom of the water. There seems however but little doubt that this organ enables fishes to maintain and adapt their specific gravity to the various depths of the element in which they move. In whatever way then we regard fishes, we see that by their internal structure and outward shape they seem equally well furnished with the means of enjoying life as birds or quadrupeds. When the senses of fishes, and other faculties pertaining to their organization are examined, we find that nature having intended them for less perfect beings has been proportionably sparing in her endowments. The brain is very small. The organs of smell and the nerves supplying them, are perceptible in most fishes; but as air is the only medium for the diffusion of odours, we can scarcely suppose that residing in the water they are affected by them; but it has been supposed that the olfactory membrane serves them instead of a distinguishing palate, in the same way as we distinguish by our taste. The taste of fishes must be imperfect, if its delicacy arises from the softness of the organ; since the whole mouth of most fishes is covered with a hard bony substance, by which they cannot discriminate bodies by the palate. Salt-water fishes have been known to swallow the fisherman's plummet instead of the bait: indeed, the greediness of the inhabitants of salt-water is prodigious: the lines of the fishermen are coarse and clumsy; the baits are seldom more than a piece of fish or the flesh of some quadruped, stuck on the hook in a rude manner. On the banks of Newfoundland, the hook, which is only hidden by the entrails of the animal last taken, is dropped into the water, the cod seizes it at once, and the fishermen have but to pull up as fast as they can throw in: but it is otherwise in fresh water, for, as Mr. Daniel observes, "The lines must be drawn to a hair-like fineness, be tinctured of the peculiar colour of the stream, the bait must be selected with care, or formed with the nicest art, and still the fishes approach with diffidence, and often swim round it with disdain, while hours are wasted in fruitless expectation, and the patience of an angler passes into a proverb." The eyes of fishes are peculiarly adapted to vision in so dense and highly refractive a medium as water. The outer surface of this organ is flat, and the internal one spherical: the flat cornea sustains less injury than a projecting one, especially in the absence of eyelids and other It is a very common error to suppose that fishes are destitute of hearing: those which have the gills free have no external openings for the ears, but two such openings are discovered in fishes which have fixed gills. In both cases, however, internal provision is made for this very important function: indeed, the custom is as old as the ancient Romans to keep pet fish in ponds, and train them to swim to a certain spot, at the sound of a bell, to be fed. Mr. Swainson tells us, as "a well-authenticated fact, that the Chinese, who breed great numbers of gold-fish, call them together, at the time of feeding, by a whistle, and the same mode of summoning other species by a noise, in aquatic preserves, is upon record." The teeth of fishes are so constant and permanent in their characters as to be second only to the fins in determining character. The food of most fishes is of an animal nature, and they seem as if impelled by urgent and constant necessity to pursue their prey. This appetite surpasses both in strength and activity those bounds which in other orders of the animal kingdom Nature seems to have prescribed. Every aquatic animal falls a victim to the indiscriminate voracity of fishes. Insects, worms, or the spawn of other tenants of the waters, sustain the smaller tribes, which, in their turn, are pursued by larger and more rapacious enemies. From their extraordinary voracity, (says Yarrell,) their rapid digestion, and the war of extermination they carry on among themselves, the greater and more powerful fishes consuming the smaller and weaker, from the largest to the most diminutive: add to this, the constant and extensive destruction effected by the numerous sweeping nets of ruthless man, and it is probable that comparatively but few fishes die a natural death. The same talented naturalist remarks that "the wounds of fish heal rapidly; and they appear to have but few diseases, probably owing to the uniformity of the temperature in the medium in which they reside." We have thus far given a brief and general view of the structure and habits of fishes. We are about to invite the reader's attention to the principal individuals which inhabit fresh water; and, in a course of illustrated articles, we propose to state the natural history of each fish, so far as it is well authenticated by the united observations of credible naturalists: at the same time, we shall avail ourselves of such curious antiquarian and anecdotal information which will tend to illustrate the state of knowledge as it existed in former days. He who looks not beyond this world, cannot feel pleasure in anything which tends to disturb his comforts, or thwart his will.-H. W. B. DAUBENEY. LONDON: JOHN WILLIAM PARKER, WEST STRAND. PUBLISHED IN WEEKLY NUMBERS, PRICE ONE PENNY, AND IN MONTELY PARTS, PRICE SIXPENCE. Sold by all Booksellers and Newsvenders in the Kingdom. SECOND ROUTE. TOKAT, IN ASIA MINOR. Red Sea, to Dendera, on the banks of the Nile, a distance BY WAY OF THE PERSIAN GULF, PERSIA, ARMENIA, ASIA of less than 100 miles. The other routes may be so arranged ranean. MINOR, AND CONSTANTINOPLE, TO EUROPE. as to give a tolerably complete notion of the subject in three Supplements. We have already traced the course from IN inviting our readers to accompany us in a second over- Bombay to Bassora by sea, touching at Muscat; then land journey from India to England, we deem it necessary through Persia, by way of Bagdad, Kermanshah, Teheran, to recall attention to the different routes usually taken, in and Tabriz; and thence over Mount Caucasus to Europe, order to explain the arrangement which we shall adopt. Captain Keppel being our chief travelling companion. On Some travellers embark at Calcutta, Madras, or Bombay; the present occasion we propose to land at Bushire instead sail across the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea; ascend that sea of Bassora; to proceed by way of Shiraz and Ispahan to to a port on the western shore; travel across a sandy desert Northern Persia; and thence westward through Asia Minor to the Nile; and follow this river to its exit in the Mediter- to Constantinople; availing ourselves chiefly of the desAnother route is, to ascend the Persian Gulf in-criptions by Sir James Alexander and Mr. Baillie Fraser. stead of the Red Sea, and to travel overland to the northern Another Supplement, treating of the route by way of the part of Persia; from whence three distinct routes conduct Afghan country, will complete the subject. the traveller to Europe: 1st. northward through Russia ;2nd. along the south shore of the Black Sea to Constantinople;-3rd. along the north shore of the same sea to Russia, Austria, &c. Lastly, the route which is most correctly termed "overland," is that wherein the traveller sets out from the north-west frontier of India; traverses the dominions of the Sikhs, the Afghans, the Bokharians, the Uzbeks, and other semi-civilized tribes; and finally arrives at the shores of the Caspian, from whence he takes one of the homeward routes already mentioned. With regard to the route by way of the Red Sea and Egypt, we do not deem it necessary to devote a Supplement thereto, since the only "overland" passage is from Cosseir, on the shores of the VOL. XVIII. Ships proceeding from Bombay to the Persian Gulf put in very frequently at Bushire, and the passengers proceed thence by land through Persia. This sea-port is situated on a sandy beach, in a dead, flat country; eastward are a few date trees, and at the distance of forty miles rises a lofty range of dark blue mountains. The town has been said to present. the appearance of a half-built city, from the incomplete state in which many of the houses are left. A curious practice prevails in the construction of the houses, for alleviating the excessive heat of the air in summer: on the flat roofs of the houses are square wind towers, sometimes rising to the height of sixty or a hundred feet, and pierced on each side with three or four longitudinal openings, through 561 which every breath of wind is conveyed to the sitting apartments beneath. Those who are accustomed to the domestic comforts of an English city will be surprised to hear that no water fit for drinking can be procured within three miles of Bushire, and that Arab women fetch the whole of the water required by the inhabitants, carrying it on their backs in sheep-skin bags or pouches. The mode of travelling throughout Persia is almost exclusively by horse or mule, for the want of roads, and the attacks of predatory tribes, render vehicles ill-fitted for such a country. Accordingly, travellers, on leaving Bushire, bargain with the horse and mule dealers for the hire of these animals at so much per diem. Sir James Alexander's party, when he made the overland journey in 1825, consisted of about twenty persons, including servants. The gentlemen purchased horses for themselves, and hired mules for their servants and baggage; and the mode of travelling which they arranged was as follows:-To leave the halting places every evening an hour and a half before sunset, strike the tent, and pack up all the utensils; march on with one servant and a horse-keeper; completing a march, generally of sixteen or eighteen miles, by ten o'clock; sleep on the ground till sunrise, by which time the baggage mules would have arrived, the tent pitched, and arrangements made for visiting the surrounding country during the day. By this arrangement, the time of travelling was confined to the cool hours of evening. On leaving Bushire for Shiraz and Persepolis, the traveller passes through a country presenting few points of attraction. The sandy soil is in many parts covered with salt marshes; here and there are to be seen fields of bearded wheat, and wells for the refreshment of the traveller; but the districts between the villages are generally rather sterile. At one spot several naphtha and sulphureous streams issue from the hills, round the bases of which the road winds, and cross the path this impregnated water is lukewarm at the fountain-head, and leaves a sediment of whitish-gray earth, which is of an acid and saltish taste, and is used by the Persians for acidulating sherbet. In Along this road are several small towns and villages, most of which are provided with caravanserais. Most of our readers are probably aware that these are houses of accommodation for man and horse, in Oriental countries. general, they have the form of a hollow square, the interior faces of which consist of rooms for travellers; and in the corners are passages leading to ranges of stabling behind the apartments of the travellers. The entrance gateway is always in the side facing the road; and in some cases there is an underground apartment in the centre of the square court, to which travellers may retire when the weather is oppressively hot. It is a common practice to sleep on the roof of the caravanserai, with no other covering than a light curtain to keep away the mosquitoes,-the usual attendants of an Oriental traveller. The sterile and sandy district of which we have lately spoken, is succeeded by a mountainous country, in which are the ruins of a once celebrated city named Shahpoor. These ruins are distant about 100 miles from Bushire, and at one part is a cave noted for its sculptured rocks. The sculptures are supposed to commemorate the triumph of the Persian king Shahpoor over the Roman emperor Valerian. The king is on horseback, with a crown surmounted by a globe on his head; a Roman, extended on his back, is under the horse's feet; and the emperor, kneeling on one knee in an attitude of submission, with a helmet on his head, and dressed in the Roman costume, is immediately in front. Many Persian cavalry and infantry are introduced in close order, above and to the right and left of these principal figures; and Victory is displaying the scroll of Fame over the king. The rock on whose face this device is sculptured, is of coarse jaspar, but bears a high polish. Numerous other remains of antiquity are found near the same spot, but all are now most desolate and dreary, giving the same indications, as so many other parts of Persia afford, of the fallen state of that once great empire. At intervals, along the route which we are here following, and which proceeds north-east from Bushire, are several villages, of which about a dozen intervene between that town and Shiraz, a distance of 150 miles. These villages bear a considerable resemblance to each other, and are mostly of a poor and humble character. We shall, therefore, pass them over, and proceed to Shiraz, one of the most important places in the southern part of Persia. Shiraz, or Shirauz, though neither very ancient nor very extensive, has long been one of the boasts of Persia, from the beauty of its environs and the polished gaiety of its inhabitants. It has been the favourite seat of the Persian muses, and near it are buried Hafiz and Saadi,, the chief of the national poets. Its wines are celebrated as the most valuable in the East; and it is the seat of a considerable and increasing trade; but since it ceased to be the residence of Kurreem Khan, the inhabitants have lost their character for taste and refinement. Shiraz lies in a valley, and is surrounded by a brick wall having large bastions at the gateways, of which there are six. Few Oriental cities possess such a fine street as the bazaar Vakeel of Shiraz. This is a very long vaulted avenue, about sixteen feet wide, with good shops on both sides, holes in the centre of the arch for the emission of smoke, and windows in the sides for the admission of light. In the centre is a sort of rotunda, with bazaars branching off to the right and left. Among the public buildings of the city is the tomb of the poet Hafiz, which is a single block of Tabriz marble, inscribed with verses from the works of the poet and from the Koran; the tomb is in a garden, and is surrounded by beautiful cypress trees, but is now environed by common graves, and is no longer adorned as formerly with a copy of Hafiz's poems. One of the governors of Shiraz, some years ago, erected two buildings to the memory of pious and distinguished men, called the Huft Tun, and the Chehel Tun. These are a kind of pleasure-houses belonging to the governor, and are decorated with paintings of very mediocre character, intended as memórials of distinguished deceased men. The other points of interest in Shiraz are similar to those which are found in most Eastern cities, such as the palaces, gardens, baths; and there is also a similar want of cleanliness and comfort in the streets, for the traveller frequently finds the accumulation of dry mud and dust so great, that the level of the court-yards of the houses is several feet below that of the streets. Quitting Shiraz (which has more than once suffered from earthquakes) we bend our way towards the far-famed ruins of Persepolis, distant about thirty miles. In the course of this journey we cross the Bend, or Bund Emir, thus alluded to in Lalla Rookh. There's a bower of roses by Bendemeer's stream, And the nightingale sings round it all the day long; Are the roses still bright by the calm Bendemeer? Persepolis was a city of considerable importance in ancient times; and although the date of its erection is now unknown, there seems evidence that it was taken and reduced to ruins by Alexander the Great. These ruins consist chiefly of pillars and doorways, as if forming parts of some noble buildings. They are surrounded by a plain, when viewed from which they present a very noble appearance, being situated on a platform fifty feet in height. The length of this platform is about 1500 feet, and it is approached from the north by a double flight of easy steps of blue marble veined with quartz. At the top of the steps are four walls, surmounted by colossal figures of winged bulls, with remnants of four pillars between the walls, the whole seeming to have formed a gateway. Near this is a stone cistern for water; and further southward is another double flight of steps, on the front of which are sculptured an immense number of figures in procession. On ascending these steps, we come to an assemblage of pillars, the vestiges of which number about forty. The pillars which still remain are very elegant and lofty, with fluted shafts, and are formed of a beautiful gray marble. Tradition states these pillars to have once sustained a roof, and to have formed part of a temple. Southward of these pillars are seen the remains of apartments consisting of square enclosures with sculptured doors, and formed of black marble. Through different parts of the platform run narrow subterranean passages, originally stone enclosure, which seems to have been the principal perhaps aqueducts; and near the platform is an immense residence. The whole platform must have been a work of immense labour, for it is built up of large blocks of coarse black marble, extremely well cut and fitted to each other. The steps leading to the platform are more than 100 in number, and are so shallow in proportion to their width, that a man can make the ascent on horseback. The sculp tures and inscriptions on various parts of these ruins have engaged the attention of many travellers, but we have not space to enter further nto the subject here. |