Derbend-nâmeh or the Hisiory of Derbend. 589 
«In the year 180 he appointed Hafadz as governor of Derbend, saying: I appoint thee in the 
capacity of governor of Derbend; fear God and enter (the Mosque) and always perform the prayers 
of Djuma’a (or the Friday, which is kept holy by the Muhammedans. Read the first part of the 
Remark # to Part V.) Do nothing without counsel; all the affairs of Derbend are in thy 
hands; if thou commit treachery, or leave off making war for religion, or if thou practise oppres- 
sion, — Î permit the inhabitants of Derbend to depose thee. T have appointed 4bdul-melik, 
the son of Aghlab, to watch over thee; I give him the office of general of the troops and 
chief of the police, for he is our confident. — Tradition says also, that on the northern side 
(literally: in the direction of the Khazars) of the ‘gate of Derbend, which is now so famous, 
there is a fence of stone, and that the tombs therein are those of the sons of Harünur- Rashid. » 
In fact, at the N. East corner of the above mentioned Musalla, I remember, there stood 
about 30 years ago two small slabs of stone such as the Muhammedans use in their sepulchres» 
indicating the existence of two graves under them. The inscription on those stones, as far as 
[ remember, and it must be so, was illegible. Though a tradition among the Sunnies asserted 
that-.under those little monuments reposed the relics of two of.the offspring of one of the 
Khalifs, who had, at an early period of the Muhammedan history, visited Derbend (some people 
indeed name aroun), yet little or no attention was paid to these memorials. The Seite inhabi- 
tants of the town, who are ten times more numerous than the Sunnites and to whom alone 
belongs the above mentioned Musalla, feeling a strong resentment for all the Khalifs of the Ara- 
bian history, whom they consider as usurpers of the hereditary rights of Ali and his poslerity, 
would have broken in pieces the monuments if they had believed the tradition: but they suffered 
them to remain as belonging to some unknown personages, or rather to some innocent children. 
Whether those stones exist till this day — I do not know. — 
Mém. des sav. étrang. T. VI. 75 
