272 
DEPARTURE FROM HAMADAN. 
cultivation of this part of the country was apparently more than neces¬ 
sary for the population ; but it is from hence that the supplies for the 
King, his immense retinue, and his troops, are chiefly drawn, and laid 
up in store for him at Sultanieh. It was thus that the ten thousand 
Greeks, in their retreat, came to a place where they found plenty of 
provisions, and barley for horses, all laid up for the satrap of the 
country. * 
Hamadan, by the direction of A1 wend, which we still saw, bore 
S. 31° W. from our encampment. 
Still in a cool and pleasant region, we continued our route to Chibok 
Oglu, distant a mile or two from the high road; because the regular 
stage not long since had been entirely demolished, as they call it in Persia 
Kharab kerd, by a young Shah Zadeh (Prince) and his suite, who had 
passed by. Saadi well understood his own countrymen when he wrote 
his pretty story of Nushirwan, in which he applies these verses, 'f 
“ Should the King want to eat an apple from the garden of the pea¬ 
sant, his servants immediately pull up the tree by the roots. 
“ And if he gives them permission to demand five eggs, they in¬ 
stantly put a thousand fowls on the spit.” Gulistan. 
On a bearing of S. 49° W. from this place, is another Takht Sulei¬ 
man, (throne of Solomon,) situated near a village on the opposite 
side of the plain. Here, we had heard were great ruins, and shafts 
of old mines; but nothing in fact is to be seen there now except 
an ancient Pehlavi inscription, much effaced, and for which the natives 
express great reverence. A fine plain, apparently a continued series of 
pasture lands, extends itself to the northward to an unbounded horizon. 
We bent our course towards the mountains which separate this plain 
from that of Sultanieh, and pitched our tents at Jahreen. On the 21st 
of June we reached the King’s camp at Sultanieh, after exploring a 
long defile, parts of which were very grand in mountain scenery. 
* Zenoph. Anab. lib. iii. c. 4. 
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