80 
SCULPTURES. 
Ferbar. This we crossed and came to the village of Hajiabad, which 
is situated close to the foot of that range of mountains at the eastern 
extremity of which are the sculptures of Nakshi Rustam. It was be¬ 
coming late, and my conductors, who were shepherds, defined the hour 
of the day, and at the same time taught me their rude but characteristic 
mode of measuring time, by saying that the sun was only two spears’ 
height above the mountains. I was afraid that little time would be 
left, before it became dark, to trace the length of the cavern, because 
we were warned that it was not safe to travel at night, as the roads were 
infested by Bakhtiarees, a tribe celebrated for its robbers, who had 
created great alarm throughout the country. The first cavern which 
we visited is the largest. It is seen from the plain at a considerable 
distance; we found it to be a natural cavity, not of any great depth, 
and about which we saw no traces of art. The second to the left of 
the largest, is a deep indentation into the mountain, at the entrance of 
which the rock has been smoothed and cut into five tablets, on three 
of which are inscriptions in the Pehlavi. Without some assistance of 
ladder or elevation, it is difficult to get close enough to them to distin¬ 
guish every character ; I must therefore apologise for the imperfections 
of my copy of part of one. The three first lines of the inscription are 
