Capt. Taylor's Notes to Account of the Ruins of AJvwaz. 211 



" of wealth. The last poor remnant of this numerous, wealthy, and 

 " luxurious people, abandoned in despair their plantations and the other 

 " sources of their riches and destructive pride, and sunk into desolation. 



" The ruins are covered with heaps of stones and fallen masonry, and 

 " the inhabitants of the small modern town are repaid for their labours in 

 " searching among the ruins, after the periodical falls of rain, by the 

 " discovery of gold and silver coins, medals, and sculptures. Several 

 " gold coins of the Abbassides were shewn to me, while residing at Busrah, 

 " by an old inhabitant of Ahwaz. They have on one side an impression in 

 " the Cufic character, of the usual creed ; on the margin of the other, the 

 •' names of the four first khalifs ; and in the central field the titles of Alhadir 

 " billah, A.H. 381. Skeletons are also not unfrequently disinterred. The 

 " heat of summer, and of the sammum, is here excessive." — Tohfet-ul-Alem, 

 in vocem Ahwaz. 



" II. Ahwaz is one of the largest districts of the province of Khuzistan. 

 " Its original name was Hormuzin Shehr. According to the authors of the 

 " Labdb and Mushtauk, the name of the capital of the province is Suz-ul- 

 " Ahxi'az, and that of the province Ahwaz, or Khuzistan. The greater part 

 " of the city is now in ruins. It is ninety farsangs from Ispahan." — 

 Abul/eda Jag-dcin-ul Bildan, Clim. 9, Art. 303. Diglat-ul Ahwaz. 



" The river of Ahwaz waters the shores of the city in Ion. 75°, lat. 31°, 

 " and passes westward to AslcerMohram in Ion. 76°, lat. 31° 15'. It nearly 

 " equals the Tigris in breadth ; and its banks are adorned with gardens and 

 " pleasure-houses, and enriched by extensive plantations of sugar-cane, 

 " and other valuable productions of the vegetable kingdom." — Abidfeda, 

 Pref. Jagrvin-zd Bildan, ad cap. de pluviis. 



" III. Ahwaz, one of the divisions of Khuzistan. It is also the proper 

 " name of all the districts of Khuz collectively ; whilst that of the capital 

 " of the present day is Sus-ul- Ahwaz. It is almost forty parasangs from 

 " Busrah, and was one of the cities most celebrated for the numbers, 

 " learning, and wealth of its doctors, divines, merchants, and nobles, 

 " whether natives or foreigners. Most of it is now in ruins, and little 

 " remains but a scanty population, and mounds and hillocks of earth and 

 " masonry, fragments of the former capital." — Samaani Kitab-ul Aunab, in 

 vocem Ahwaz. 



" IV. Al Ahwaz. A territory comprizing nine districts, situated between 

 " Busrah and Fars, whicli are comprehended under the single proper name 



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