EUROPEAN VANDALISM. 119 



last of the Parthian monarchs, and the Emperor 

 Valerian. 



The carving in the largest of the arches is excellent, 

 and in many parts well preserved ; but the whole 

 effect is marred, firstly, by a painted sculpture of one 

 Mohammed Ali Mirza, Dowlet Shah (son of Fath Ali 

 Shah), sitting in a golden chair, with his son Heshmet- 

 ed-Dowleh in front, and another son, Emad-ed-Dowleh, 

 behind, which his chief eunuch, Agha Ghani, caused to 

 be executed above the boar-hunt ; and, secondly, by an 

 extraordinary vulgarity which has led innumerable 

 travellers to inscribe their own unimportant names all 

 over the place. It is absolutely nauseating, while look- 

 mg at the excellent carving in the panel representing 

 the stag-hunt, to find your eye suddenly arrested by 

 the name Polacco chiselled deep in large letters in the 

 very middle of the scene ! One wonders whether Mr 

 Polacco really is under the illusion that his name is of 

 such vast interest to posterity that it must be inscribed 

 among the finest rock - sculptures extant in Persia ! 

 Among other names I remember Williams and Barker ; 

 but these, it must be admitted, are but specimens of 

 an enormous number of similar disfigurements. The 

 late Nasr-ed-Din Shah was much disgusted with the 

 works of these vandals, as is attested by the following 

 passages culled from his Majesty's diary of his expedi- 

 tion to Kerbela, 1870-1871 : "Above this panel Agha 

 Ghani, a native of Talish, Gilan, chief eunuch of 

 Mohammed Ali Mirza, took the trouble of having an 

 image of the late prince sitting on a throne, and that 

 of Heshmet-ed-Dowleh, his son, and that of another of 

 his younger sons, sculptured on the stone. Ghani him- 

 self, with his despiseable face, is standing in front of the 

 prince. It is so badly and coarsely done that he has 

 really spoiled the arch. It was so badly sculptured 



