MARAGHA. 
292 
The town is bounded on the east by sloping hills, which gradually 
verge to high mountains. The mountain of Sahand, in shape like a 
barn, bears from Maragha N. 37° E. and gives birth to the river Safy, 
from which many jouds or dikes are cut, and thus its waters are distri¬ 
buted throughout the surrounding cultivation. Its bed at the time we 
crossed it was nearly dry, and the bridges appeared to be works more of 
ostentation than of use; but the immense stones and rocks that are 
thrown together confusedly in its bed, attest its violence at the season 
of the floods. 
Maragha is every where commanded by the hills which surround 
It, and when seen from their summits exhibits a monotonous suc^ 
cession of mud houses, without possessing one building of note to 
attract a stranger’s observation. It is flanked to the N. E. by a large 
burial place, in which are many ancient stones, with Cufiick inscrip¬ 
tions, upon some of which 'are carved bows and arrows, swords and 
shields, indicating a warrior; books and reading boards, denoting a 
mollah, or learned man ; hammers, trowels, &c., the tomb of a mason, 
and so forth. Upon one stone was the sculpture of a man (on horseback), 
a circumstance which alone would distinguish the tomb of a Shiah from 
that of a Sunni, who looks upon the representation of the human 
figure as impious. 
This place is inclosed by walls, now in many places so ruined 
as to afford an easy access without the medium of a gate. It has 
also outworks of turrets like Teheran, and many indications of having 
been a much more flourishing place than it is at present. Indeed, the 
Persians consider it as one of their most ancient cities, giving Balkh the 
first place in antiquity, Sultanieh the second, and Maragha the third; 
although in the history of Jenghiz Khan it is called a modern city, 
built by the Caliph Merwan, the last of the Ommiades, who flourished 
about the 127th year of the hejra. 
I attempted to take a meridional observation, but the weather was 
too clouded The tables of Ulug Beg make Maragha in 37° 20' lat.; 
* Petit de la Croix’s Transl. p. 328. 
