350 Mr. Ranking on the Origin 



have certain temples covered with straw, with small round 

 windows. full of skulls of men. Before their temple is a round 

 ditch, the brim of which is encompassed by a serpent of gold, 

 silver, and other metals mixed, with his tail in his mouth. — 

 {Hakliiyt, iii. 363). 



It is probable, that the Mahomedan Mongols and Tartars, 

 would have avoided any similitude to the shape of the con- 

 temned Guebres' places of worship, although policy might 

 induce them to exhibit heads in skull-towers. 



" I perceived a mound, or conical hill," says Sir R. K. 

 Porter, (vol. i., p. 298) **at a httle distance from the road, 

 with uneven ground about its base, and the vestiges of a 

 stone building ; itAvas of greater altitude than any T had seen. 

 I inquired of Abbas Mirza, by whose side I had the honor to 

 be riding, what he thought of the origin of those heaps of 

 earth ? He said, that he supposed they were the work of the 

 fire-worshippers of former ages, who usually erected their 

 altars upon high places. It stood just in the position where 

 such a pyramidal height may have been required, and his 

 royal highness's suggestion was very probable; each village 

 having then its high place, as it may now have its little 

 oratory of prayer for Mahomedans." 



Near Ispahan, there is a high conical hill, — it is called 

 Attush Kou, or Fire-hill ; there are fragments of buildings 

 on its summit. It stands close to the quarter where the 

 Guebres dwelt, particularly those who followed the arms of 

 Mahmoud the x\fghan, A. D. 997, who gave them a mart 

 still called Guebrabad. Upon such hills was the sun adored ; 

 and sometimes in caverns, where fire was used by the followers 

 of Zoroaster, in place of the god of day*. *' At Han si Hisarf, 

 126 miles to the W. N. W. from Delhi, there is a construction in 

 the shape of the frustum of a pyramid, eighty to one hundred 



period to the Invasion of Japan M-as seventy years ; during which, the Chinese 

 Mongols had become more humane and civilized ; they had conquered all the con- 

 tinent of Asia, except Hindostan and Arabia. They had made desperate attempts 

 on Hindostan by Chitta, Thibet, Moultan, Outch, and the mouth of the Indus. 

 On one of these expeditions, Dova sent 200,000 cavalry, but the Afghans were still 

 more powerful, and Hindostan resisted them till Timur's invasion and Baber's 

 conquest in 1525. — fVars and Sports, ch. ii. 



* SirR.K.Porter'sTravels,vol.i. p.437.vol.ii.p.46, 495^ D'Herbelot, 'Atesch." 

 + In the country of the Turcomans, Hainsa is the name of % chief, and Hisar is a 

 territory. — Ahul Ghazi, p. 9.; ch. iii. 



