384 
SHAHMIRZAD. 
given him an asylum on a particular emergency, have for that service 
been exempted from paying the regular tithes. The village at which 
we rested was thickly shaded with walnut, poplar, and fruit-trees, and 
counts three hundred houses. 
On the 6th, we set off early for Shahmirzad, a long distance of 
ten hours, which we calculated forty-five miles. After setting out, we 
were indeed obliged to return to our original road, which produced a 
considerable angle. From Toweh, we mounted a long and steep ascent, 
and in four hours got to the Rasm Rudbar; where we still found the 
same encampment of black tents which we had seen on our way to the 
King’s camp. We continued on this road for a short time, with the 
mountains covered with pines, bordering the valley, and then instead 
of going through the narrow pass leading to Asseran, we struck off in a 
S. S. W. direction through a most dreary track, without water, until we 
reached an eminence, whence we descried the site of Shahmirzad, 
marked by trees in the nook of the mountains. It looked quite close 
to us, but we were two hours in getting to it; distance like time, appears 
small unless there is a succession of objects to mark it. Before reaching 
the village on the left hand of the road, there is a conspicuous mound 
of earth, very much resembling the tumuli of Troy and Greece. If 
the body of Darius had not been sent to be buried among the Kings of 
Persia, I should willingly believe it to have marked his tomb, or at least 
the spot where he was killed. 
Shahmirzad is a large place, embosomed within trees, and forms a 
central emporium to the extensive tracts of cultivation about it. It is 
also under the jurisdiction of Zulfakar Khan, whose chief place is Sem- 
nan, distant about three fursungs. The women of Shahmirzad are par¬ 
ticularly fair, and the climate is reported to be very salubrious. 
We proceeded on the 7th to a pasture called Goursefid, or the White 
Sepulchre, which we reached in 5| hours, and calculated the road 
distance to be 25 miles. We first crossed the mountains that gird 
Shahmirzad to the northward, through a very difficult pass, which 
adds one more to the many curious pylcs which we have seen in this part 
of Persia, and again returned to our former road, on which we entered 
