TABRIZ. 
278 
To the N. W. of the city is a very extensive burial place; over the 
whole of which are strewed black blocks of stone or granite, carved 
in the manner which I have frequently described, and mostly without 
an insc ription, thou gh some bore the Arabic charac ter. To the S. W. 
of the town are some more of these ancient tombs, one of which 
is of the red stone, evidently cut from the adjacent mountains; the 
others are of a black marble, which takes a fine polish, but which is 
now no longer used, nor could I learn even the situation of the 
quarries. One of the stones measured eight feet and a half in length, 
and two feet and a half in breadth; and covered probably some very 
distinguished hero: near it is a small mosque. 
The transparent or rather diaphanous substance, with beautiful 
vein s, (whic h is called the marble of Tabriz, and which I have described 
in some of the public buildings at Shiraz and Ispahan) is not pro cured 
near th e city or taken from a quarry, but is said to be rather a petrifac- 
tion found in large quantities, and in immense blocks, on the borders of 
the lak e Shah ee, near the town of Meraugh eh. It takes th e finest 
polish, and is employed in baths, in the wainscoting of rooms, in 
tomb-stones, and in every other purpose where ornamental marble 
is necessary. • .. 
There are twelve public batlis, .some of which are handsome; and 
there is a bazar, which extends the length of tlie city, but it is mean 
and dirty. Tabriz has no mosques of any particular merit: on 
entering indeed there is the large ruin already mentioned ; and to the 
S. W. of the city (enclosed in the Ark or fort of Ali Shah, which 
contains the barracks and magazines) are the remains of another , 
now converted into a look-out house. This is a conspicuous, but very 
unseemly object, and to me seemed of little use, and from its height 
to be the most exposed either to the shock of an earthquake, or to an 
attack from a battery. The danger of earthquakes has taught the in¬ 
habitants of Tabriz to build their houses generally as low as possible; 
and to employ more wood than brick and plaster, in their construe- 
