ZENDAN JEMSHEED. 
79 
From this rock, I crossed to the other side of the plain with some dif¬ 
ficulty, because it here was intersected by a great number of artifi¬ 
cial water-courses, and came to some ruins called Takht Taous^ or the 
Peacock Throne ; although, in my former journey, I saw them under 
the name of the Harem Jemsheed^ so much does the nomenclature of 
antiquity change in the mouth of Persians, according to their different 
fancies. I carefully examined all the indentations of the mountain, 
as far as Persepolis, hoping to meet with some sculpture, or some re¬ 
main that might have escaped the research of other travellers, or even 
the observation of the people of the country; but I saw nothing that 
I can dignify with the name of a discovery. In some places the 
rock was carved into various shapes, as if it had been fitted to the pur¬ 
poses of habitation; in others, it was intersected by long channels, 
most probably conduits for water j at every turn it bore marks of thq 
chisel. I ascended some steps on the mountain to look at two small 
chambers cut into the rock, with little troughs before them, which also 
I should suppose were for the purposes of containing water, their size 
being too inconsiderable for the dwellings of men. 
On enquiry of the Ket Khoda^ or chief of the neighbouring village of 
Kenareh, concerning new objects of research, he said that he knew of 
one place, which was situated in a deep recess of the mountains, and 
which probably had never been visited by Europeans. This he himself 
had never seen, but had heard that it consisted of several caves, one of 
which, of extraordinary depth, was called the Zendan JemsJieed, or the 
Prisons of Jemsheed. It was so deep, that an old man in its vicinity 
avers that some time ago a cow strayed into it, and that a long while 
after she came out accompanied by several young ones. This, of course, 
was Persian fiction ; but as the foundation of the Ket Khodcis tale 
seemed probable, I put him into requisition, and made him show me 
the way to the cavern. 
We took our way to the Dehanee Sexmnd, or the Mouth of Sewimd, 
which is that narrow part of the plain to the north-east, situated between 
Nakshi Rustam and the mountain of Persepolis, and through which, in 
a narrow but deep bed, runs a stream vulgarly called'jPo/^ar, but written 
