114 
ARRIVAL AT PERSEPOLIS. 
seated on a carpet which was spread on a rock by the road-side, we 
arose to depart, and the expression of his rough-bearded face looked so 
very much like genuine grief on the occasion, that we were inclined to 
give him credit for that feeling. As a parting present the Ambassador 
sent him an opera-glass, which was described to him as a hunting 
telescope, a silver hunting watch, and a small diamond ring. 
We halted at Zergoon, where the heat was 106° at noon, and where 
we were tormented by musquitoes, and frightened by tarantulas, the 
bite of which the Persians affirm to be venomous and mortal. Thev 
are certainly the most hideous of the spider species. 
We reached Persepolis at two hours before sunrise on the 11th of 
July, and remained there until the 13th at midnight. During this 
interval no discoveries of importance were made; but by the help of 
the artillerymen we cleared away the very narrow passage into the first 
tomb described by Chardin, and creeping in upon our bellies, found the 
sarcophagi mentioned by that traveller, nearly covered over by an 
accumulation of clay. Mr. Gordon got some villagers to dig for him 
