THE ASS. 371 



large and of great depth : their sources are supposed to com- 

 municate. It is not surprising, therefore, that the body of 

 Baharam was never found, although every search was made by 

 his inconsolable mother." 



In a foot-note he adds : " When encamped, in 1810, near the 

 springs, in one of which Baharam plunged, being aware of their 

 dangerous nature, I directed that none of my escort should bathe. 

 This order was unfortunately disobeyed by a young man of the 

 17th Dragoons, and, though reported a good swimmer, he was 

 drowned. His body was recovered, being near the edge. The 

 spring in which he lost his life, we were told, was the same into 

 which Baharam had fallen." 



The following story of the origin of one of the hunting-palaces 

 built by this monarch, which is now a ruin, is certainly worth 

 quoting : " Baharam, proud of his excellence as an archer, wished 

 to display it before a favourite lady. He carried her to the plain. 

 An antelope was soon found asleep. The monarch shot an arrow 

 with such precision as to graze its ear. The animal awoke, and 

 put his hind-hoof to the ear to strike off the fly by which he con- 

 ceived himself annoyed. Another arrow fixed his hoof to his 

 horn. Baharam turned to the lady, in expectation of her praises. 

 She coolly observed, ' Neeho kurden z pur hurden est ' (practice 

 makes perfect). Enraged at this uncourtly observation, the- king 

 ordered her to be sent into the mountains to perish. Her life was 

 saved by the mercy of a minister, who allowed her to retire to a 

 small village on the side of a hill. She lodged in an upper room, 

 to which she ascended by twenty steps. On her arrival she 

 bought a small calf, which she carried up and down the stairs 

 every day. This exercise was continued for four years, and the 

 increase of her strength kept pace with the increasing weight of 

 the animal. Baharam, who had supposed her dead, after a 

 fatiguing chase, stopped one evening at this village. He saw a 

 young woman carrying a large cow up a flight of twenty steps. 

 He was astonished, and sent to inquire how strength so extraor- 

 dinary had been acquired by a person of so dehcate a form. The 

 lady said she would communicate her secret to none but Baharam, 

 and to him only on his condescending to come alone to her house. 



B b 2 



