140 
KANDAVAR. 
termination of the champaign, we crossed some minor hills, 
rising from the declining side of Elwund, whose skirts widely 
expanding in this direction, like the diverging train of a monarch, 
spread far in our path, after we had left the near neighbourhood 
of Ecbatana. Having passed over these high grounds, we en¬ 
tered on another open tract, full of villages, and abundantly laid 
down in corn, castor, and vineyards. This also extended about 
ten miles ; at the end of which, another range of hills, running 
up the slope of a second mountainous acclivity, carried us over a 
road that looked down upon the picturesque valley of Kangavar. 
Indeed, it presented a perfectly Attic scene. At the north-west¬ 
ern extremity, we saw the village, situated on a commanding 
bi-topped height, and covering both summits with its russet 
walls: a romantic wildness in this fortress-like appearance, min¬ 
gled with the impression of classic ruin received at the very 
first glance, and which was rendered more striking by the dark 
and rocky openings from the hills, which led by many an intri¬ 
cate winding to the many impregnable fastnesses of the upper 
mountains. We reached the vale in six hours, having travelled 
as many farsangs from Sahadabad; and this place was to be our 
menzil. 
« 
Kandavar, the ancient K oyxuGug, reduced to a village, maintains 
something of prolonged existence, by preserving a name so near 
in sound to its venerable appellation of antiquity, and shewing a 
few human habitations, still mingling with the ruins of the past. 
The village consists of about three hundred houses, most of 
which occupy the lofty eminence, so long celebrated as having 
been the site of a superb temple of Diana. That the great god¬ 
dess of Ephesus would find a host of worshippers in Persia, 
besides its conquerors who built the temple, is very probable ; 
I 
