266 
SEPULCHRE OF ESTHER AND MORDECAL 
a stone and inserted in the wall of the inner chamber, which states that 
the building was erected in the year 4474 of the Creation^, by two de¬ 
vout Jews of Kashan, over the graves of Mordecai and Esther. But 
the old rabbi who escorted us, before he had discovered that the Am¬ 
bassador could decypher his inscription, boldly asserted that the bones 
of those holy personages were actually buried in that very spot, and 
that the mausoleum which we now saw, was the pious work of the 
son of Ardeshir. However, as soon as he found that he might be 
detected, he confessed what he could no longer conceal, and agreed 
with us that it would be difficult to determine where the actual relics 
were deposited. 
This mausoleum, upon the summit of which was a stork’s nest, is a 
very picturesque object. It is entered by a stone door made of one 
large slab, which is opened by inserting the hand through a hole cut for 
the purpose. The first chamber was a deposit for the emblems of 
death; for besides lamps, we found the tabooi or wooden litter, in 
which the dead are carried to the grave, and other appertenances. We 
crept into the second chamber through a door, about a foot and a half 
in height, and there found two wooden frames carved all over with 
Hebraic characters, and shaped like ancient sarcophagi : these were 
alleged to be the tombs. The walls were inscribed with passages from 
the Talmud, by characters formed of plaster, and were lighted by small 
apertures in the cupola. The poor Jews who attended us, were not 
a little delighted to see us take so much notice of their ancestry, whilst 
the Mahomedans seemed indignant that we should interest ourselves in 
any thing that regarded so despised a nation ; for here, as in all parts of 
Persia, they are an abject race, and support themselves by driving a 
peddling trade. Two hundred families of them live in a state of great 
misery, paying 20 tomauns monthly to the Government, and are not 
permitted to cultivate the ground, or to have landed possessions. 
It has been decided by the two best modern authorities, D’Anville 
* See the Translation in Sir John Malcolm’s Persia, vol. i. p. 2(10. 
