GUNJ NAMHAL. 
121 
outward injury. The natives, as I have intimated before, call 
these sculptured writings the Gunj Namhal, or history of the 
treasure, which is reserved for him alone by whom it can be 
deciphered. And a treasure it must prove whenever its true 
meaning is discovered, for no doubt can be entertained of its 
casting much guiding light on the early history of this very 
ancient capital. In short, wherever we find these apparently 
primeval characters, we cannot hesitate in believing that the 
places where they are stamped must have been amongst the 
first settlements of mankind after the flood; and, indeed, in 
almost all the most ancient cities of the world, which have left 
any traceable remains, we have found some fragments of the 
arrow-headed character. The sun was set, before we had retrod 
our path along the nearly trackless banks of the bright stream, 
that flowed so swiftly from its fount at the Gunj Namhal. Its 
lonely waters, now seldom disturbed by human footstep, but 
which had held on their course from the time of those inscrip¬ 
tions being cut in the rock, acquired a new interest with me, as I 
silently followed the hermit stream, and listened to its murmurs. 
I thought of the solemnities, which, at the opening of those, 
perhaps, sacred tablets, had wound along its now solitary banks, 
with princes in the van, and the multitudes of Ecbatana in their 
train. It is impossible to contemplate these scenes, without 
being what people may call, “ troubled with such fancies !” 
At this season of the year, I found the temperature of Hama- 
dan delightful; the thermometer never rose higher at mid-day, 
than 80° of Fahrenheit; and, I understand, that in the very 
excess of summer, the heat is far from oppressive; the air being- 
rendered agreeable, by a light breeze that blows continually 
during the hot months, from the north-west. Hence, we can 
VOL. II. 
R 
