Vol. V, No. 8.] Some Persian Folk-lore Stories. 291 
N.S.) 
“« one to imagine that they had been used for sacred purposes, 
‘* ag one so often finds in Italy and many other places.’’ 
6. 
Extract from ‘‘ Observations made on a Tour from Bengal to 
Persia in the Year 1786-7,” by William Franklin. 
‘‘Underneath the above-mentioned devices are small 
‘« openings, which lead to a subterraneous passage, cut out of 
‘the mountain; it is six feet in height, and four in breadth; 
‘¢ the passage leads a considerable way into the rock, but it 
‘is quite dark after advancing about thirty yards, and emits 
‘* a most noisome smell. The natives call this place the Cherk 
‘* Almas, that is, the Talisman or Diamond of Fate': they 
‘* affirm that at the end of the passage is the Talisman, and 
‘* that whosoever arrives thither, and asks questions of future 
‘* events, will be answered from within’ ; but they say that no 
‘one has ever yet been able to penetrate to the ext:emity of 
‘« the passage, being opposed by the Demons and Genii, whom 
“they believe to dwell there ; and superstitiously imagine 
‘« that all lights taken in there will go out of themselves. Sir 
‘‘ John Chardin and M. le Brun, however, penetrated a con- 
‘« siderable way into this passage, till. they relate, it ended 
‘*in a path too narrow to admit further progress. no 
‘account has hitherto appeared of these subterranean 
‘* passages, but what the superstition of the natives had chosen 
‘* to invent, it may not be deemed presumptuous in giving a 
‘* conjecture, that they were originally intended as a place for 
‘concealed treasure. a custom time immemorially observed, 
‘‘and to this day subsisting amongst Eastern Princes. Not 
‘* having lights with us, neither Mr. Jones nor myself thought 
“* proper to explore the passage.’’ 
¥ 
Extract from Sir William Ouseley’s ‘‘ Travels in Various 
Countries of the Fast and more particularly 
Persia,’’ 1811. 
‘* Chardin appears to have ventured in these tempting 
‘excavations beyond any other European. One of these, 
‘near the tombs, into which I advanced until stagnant water 
‘and foul air rendered further progress almost impossible, 
1 This mistaken translation of the word Charkh, a wheel, repeated 
by Sir William Ouseley, appe«rs to me to haves origin in the fact that 
i n in Persian 
G. 
may be well to mention that I never heard any allusion made to 
the oracular powers attributed here to the Diamoad Wheel.—C. M. G. 
