210 Capt. Taylor's Notes to Account of the Ruins of Ah-jsaz. 



seen equal to it in size and extent. What are now thick and impervious 

 woods, were once extensive plantations of sugar-cane. Large vats and 

 manufactories of sugar were also in existence ; and mill-stones and other 

 implements of the art of the sugar-baker are even now so profusely 

 scattered over the ancient site, that it is impossible to number them. 

 During the dynasty of the Abbassides, this city was at the height of its 

 prosperity. Its extent in breadth is supposed to be forty parasangs, 

 throughout which ruins and remains of magnificent edifices, baths, 

 caravans, and mosques, are strewed. Extensive as they may appear, the 

 inhabitants were always in litigation regarding houses and ground, as 

 spaces sufficiently open and ample could not be had for their accommo- 

 dation. These khalifs, within whose dominions was comprehended most 

 of the habitable world, named this city ' tlie source of food and wealth;' 

 the inhabitants of which, in their riches and luxury, excelled the rest of 

 the world. 



" The river of Dizipul, a stream nearly equal in size to that of the 

 Kuran, enters this latter below Bandi Kir, and here the united waters 

 are termed ' the river of Ahwaz.' The bund of Ahwaz restrained their 

 coui'se, so that the waters completely overflowed the land, and not a drop 

 was lost to the aid of cultivation. The intermediate country was covered 

 with plantations of sugar-cane ; and the sugar was conveyed to every part 

 of the world, as none of foreign manufacture was then imported into 

 the territories of Persia or Rum. Thus the inhabitants became rich and 

 luxurious, and renowned throughout the earth. As wealth, however, is 

 the parent of pride and insubordination, these wealthy citizens revolted 

 from the khalifs, until An ebn Muhammed, the astrologer, surnamed 

 ' prince of the Zaugis,' from having recruited his army among the 

 Zaugis, or Nubian slaves of Khuzistan and Busrah, took the field with a 

 powerful force, and contended for years against the monarchs of the 

 house of Abbas. In the course of these hostilities the people served in 

 the ranks of one or other of the rival armies, and were swept away in 

 numbers by the chances of war ; until, in the end, the khalifs triumphed. 

 The rebellious spirit of the people, however, had so disgusted these 

 princes, that they ceased to favour or embellish the city ; and the remain- 

 ing population, left to itself, fell into private feuds and bickerings. 

 Anarchy and oppression ensued ; the weaker fled, industry ceased, and 

 with it the usual resort of commercial adventurers, and the production 



