154. 
PERSEPOLIS TO ISPAHAN. 
27th. It rained at intervals during the night with much fury. It 
cleared up, however, during the morning, and the sun shone bright; 
but it was then freezing so hard, that we were obliged to leave the 
tents behind us until they should have lost their stiffness in the 
warmth of the day. The feast of the Corban Bairarn now com¬ 
menced among the Mussulmans. The Persians performed the cere¬ 
monies of the day, and we again proceeded on our journey. The 
direction of our march averaged N. 10 W. After travelling nearly 
seven hours we reached its termination at Maxhood-Beggy , a dis¬ 
tance of eighteen miles. The line of our route led us to the W. side 
of the plain, over a road still finer even than that on which we had 
journied on the preceding day. The mountains lost their regular 
bearing and outline, and were more varied in their projections and 
recesses. At about nine miles from Yezdikhaust we arrived at a 
caravanserai and a fort, the approaches to which were thickly spread 
with the vestiges of a town. The place was called Ameenabad. On 
the plain also, which succeeded, were scattered ruins. A North-east 
wind sprung up, and, passing down the snowy summits of the 
mountains, brought a sharpness so piercing, that, for the first time, 
we were incommoded by the cold, and were anxious to get to our 
encampment for the night. 
Before our arrival, we were met by a person deputed by the Go¬ 
vernor of Ispahan , to welcome us into his territory. Maxhood-Beggy 
is seen at a distance, and then looks a large place. But the appear¬ 
ances of its grandeur vanish on a nearer approach in ruins; some 
indeed are substantial walls, and the remains of bazai's. Yet, instead of 
the dilapidated chamber of some miserable caravanserai , which alone 
we could have expected, we were lodged in a house of singular con¬ 
venience and even elegance. It was built in fact, for her own accom¬ 
modation, by the Queen at Shiraz, (the mother of the Prince Governor 
of Farsistan) who was accustomed every two years to take a journey to 
the King at Teheran, and who accordingly provided on both the winter 
and the summer route a similar resting place. She enjoys a great reputa- 
