68 
CHAPTER V, 
Several circumstances prevented the immediate prosecution of our 
journey to the capital; and as it became likely that we should remain 
at Shiraz at least during the months of May and June, the Ambassador 
accepted the Prince’s offer of the Takht-a-Cajar, a summer house 
situated on an eminence about a mile from the town, for his own habi¬ 
tation, whilst the gentlemen of his suite pitched their tents around him 
in the plain below. In the mean time, he seized the opportunity of 
the delay, to dispatch several of the gentlemen attached to his Embassy 
into various parts of the country, for the purposes of acquiring informa¬ 
tion, both on their present state, and on the remains of antiquity which 
they might possess, and which hitherto have not come under the cog¬ 
nizance of European travellers. His brother. Sir William Ouseley, 
went to Fasa, the ancient Pasagardae, in the hopes of being able to dis¬ 
cover some traces of the tomb of Cyrus, and from thence to Darabgerd. 
The Honourable Mr. Gordon undertook a dangerous journey to 
Shouster, in order to explore the ancient Susa. Colonel d’Arcy pro¬ 
ceeded to Firouzabad, where we had heard of some remarkable sculp¬ 
tures. Major Stone* took a new route to Shapour, in order to become 
better acquainted with that interesting place and its vicinities; and it 
fell to me to go to Persepolis, as I should by that means be ready to 
answer the calls of public business, and likewise have a chance to make 
discoveries at and in the vicinity of a place already so famous for its 
stores of antiquity. 
Furnished by the Ambassador with a Mehmandar for my protection, 
two Persian stone-cutters to assist my antiquarian researches, and a 
* Major Stone, an officer of great merit, whose premature death we had afterwards to 
lament, succeeded in discovering the cavern at Shapour, which had escaped our research. 
At its entrance he saw a fallen statue, in dress and character the same as the sculptured 
figures at Shapour. This is the only known statue in Persia. 
