204- LieuL Mignan's Account of the Rimis of Ahwaz. 



tion ; it is in many places ten feet higb, and nearly as much in breadth ; while 

 it extends upwards of one hundred feet in length without any intermediate 

 breach : indeed, on examination, I found many single blocks of stone in it 

 measuring eight and ten feet. The river dashes over the btmd with great 

 violence, and accelerated by a strong current always running southwardly 

 with rapidity, is projected into a fall, the sound of whicli is to be heard 

 from a considerable distance. Boats of every description are obliged to 

 discharge their goods previous to an attempt at passing over, and even then 

 the passage is attended with much danger. I understood that they are 

 frequently swamped. The river is one hundred and sixty yards in breadth 

 at each side of the dyke, and of great depth ; therefore the shallowness 

 opposite the town is caused by the great mass of masonry below the 

 surface. The remains of this bwicl are the portions which Kinneir appears 

 to assign to the remnants of the palace of Artabanes. Upon what autho- 

 rity he asserts that any palace was erected across the river, or that it was 

 the winter residence of Artabanes, the last of the Parthian kings, I am 

 at a loss to discover. Kinneir also mentions that many of the excavations, 

 in the rocks bore the exact form and dimensions of a coffin : for these 

 sepulchral recesses I looked in vain, although, towards the south end 

 of the town, there are several singular cavities, and a few water-mills 

 erected between the rocks, the latter probably constructed since his 



visit. 



The remains of a bridge I found where he places it, namely, behind the 

 town ; and here too commences the mass of ruins, extending at least 

 ten or twelve miles in a south-easterly direction, while its greatest breadth 

 covers about half that distance. I could not find any person who had been to 

 the end of these ruins ; and according to the inhabitants, their extent would 

 occupy a journey of two months. Althougli this is doubtless an exaggera- 

 tion, it may be as well to mention, as an hypothesis, that they extend to 

 the neighbourhood of Ram Hormis. 



All the mounds are covered with hewn stone, burnt brick, and pottery. 

 The first which I ascended I found to be nearly two hundred feet high. In 

 many parts flights of steps are plainly discernible in good preservation, 

 and at the base of this mass of ruins I dug into some graves, and found 

 stones measuring five and six feet in length. Hence it was I brought 

 away several stones with inscriptions upon them in the Cufic character, and 

 others with fret-work, all indicative of an era subsequent to the Muham- 



