CHAP. VIL 
SHIRAZ TO PERSEPOLIS. 
DEPARTURE FROM SHIRAZ—ZERGOON—BEND-EMIR, THE ANCIENT 
ARAXES-PLAIN OF MERDASHT—TOMBS AND SCULPTURES OF 
NAKSHI RUSTAM—FIRE-TEMPLES—PERSEPOLIS—GENERAL VIEW 
OF THE WHOLE-PARTICULAR DESCRIPTION; STAIRCASE; 
PORTALS; HALL OF COLUMNS—SCULPTURES AT NAKSHI RADJAB 
—POPULAR TRADITIONS. 
At eleven o'clock on the morning of the 13th, the Envoy recom¬ 
menced his journey towards Teheran . The Prime Minister, and the 
Chief Secretary, Mahomed HassaN Khan (the commander of the 
Karaguzloo tribe), the Prince’s Lord Chamberlain, and Mahomed 
Zeky Khan, our former Mehmandar , with Abdulla Khan, who 
had succeeded to that office pro tempore , accompanied us about the 
distance of a mile from Tengui All Acbar , and then all took their 
formal leave, except our late and present Mehmandars. 
At the distance of a quarter of a mile beyond the gate of the pass 
departing from Shiraz , one of the most compact of distant views pre¬ 
sented itself. As we saw it from an eminence, the foreground was 
formed by the two bold acclivities, (which close into the pass and are 
connected by the gate), and the interval in the distance is filled up by 
