836 Itinerary from Yezd to Herat. [No. 154. 



twenty caravanseries, thirty public baths, four bazars, six colleges, and 

 the Prince's palace, which may be considered its castle. There is nothing 

 remarkable to be seen but the palace of Ibrahim Khan D'Janshid, and 

 a large and deep cistern, which supplies the greater part of the popula- 

 tion with water, it is filled by an underground aqueduct (kares,) which 

 comes from the hills. The population amounts to about forty thousand 

 souls, about two-thirds of whom are Persians, the rest Affghans. The 

 commerce, which is carried on with Bokhara, Kandahar, Mushed and 

 Yezd, attracts a great many strangers to it. Its productions are silk 

 and cotton. It was pillaged by D' Jengkis Khan in the year of the Hegira 

 619, and again by Tamerlane, whose descendants for a long time made 

 it their residence. This city gave birth to the celebrated historian 

 Khondemir, author of an abridged Universal History, also to the poet 

 D'jaim, who nourished during the reign of Sultan Hussein of Bokara, 

 of the race of Tamerlane, and to whom he dedicated his " Bahoristan." 

 The environs of Herat are exceedingly agreeable. Among other places, 

 are the country seats of Takli, Sofer, Goozerja, and the garden of Shah- 

 zada Mulik Kossoura, which are situated to the N.E. of the city. On 

 this same side is also the famous mosque of Moossa Hola, which is 

 close to the royal garden ; such an edifice is rarely to be met with in 

 Persia. It is now in ruins ; it has six minarets and a large college, and 

 what remains, is sufficient to shew, that its architecture, though simple, 

 was elegant and well adapted to the climate. ,The richness of the ceil- 

 ings and domes are surprising ; the walls for the most part are Mosaic, 

 built of glazed bricks, which, from their embellishments, present an agree- 

 able appearance to the eye ; the minarets above all, from their lightness 

 and height to which they have been erected, are most pleasing to behold. 

 One of these has inclination towards the tomb of Imam Reza in Mushed, 

 which the over-religious ascribe to a miracle, and which is shewn 

 with great display to travellers. This superb edifice was erected by 

 Sultan Hussein Mirza Bairam, at the entreaty of his favorite slave Goher 

 Shah, regarding which, the inhabitants tell a marvellous tale ; others 

 give the credit of building it to Gaist-uddeen of the Gawridean dynasty ; 

 it was destroyed by the Tartars of D'Jenghis Khan. 



Not far from Gowzherab, upon the hill3 near where this garden is si- 

 tuated, is a ruby mine, which was formerly worked, but has since been 

 abandoned in consequence of these precious stones being latterly found 



