THE GREAT ARCH AT TACKT-l-BOSTAN. 171 
are now totally gone ; and I think it warrantable to suppose, that 
the mutilated warrior just described, was one of them, and bat¬ 
tered down with the rest, it is probable, by some barbarous hand 
of conquest. Falling into the river, it escaped the entire demo¬ 
lition of its companions ; and, after discovery by the inhabitants, 
who, it is likely, associating its situation with the tradition re¬ 
specting some aquatic representation of their admired queen, set 
it erect in the stream, it was adored as her image when the Abbe 
saw a glimpse of it through the water, and was told the story 
of her past perfections. The natives hold the figure I saw, in 
such superstitious reverence, as to believe its touch capable of 
healing the most malignant diseases in man and beast; and in 
gratitude, they hang its neck with a variety of votive offerings, in 
the shape of rags, and other et-ceteras, of every material and co¬ 
lour, either to bribe or to repay the deified Shirene! The people 
about, call the ledge, or plane, whence I suppose it fell, the mu¬ 
sical gallery of Khosroo ; and, indeed, it appears of considerable 
dimensions. I shall now proceed to the details of the antiquities 
beneath. 
The largest arch * measures in width twenty-four feet, and in 
depth twenty-one. The face of the rock has been smoothed for 
a great distance above the sweep of the arch and also on each 
side. On this surface, to the right and left, are two upright en¬ 
tablatures, containing an exquisitely carved ornament, much in 
the Grecian taste, and of a foliage form. Round the bow of the 
arch, runs a double border, appearing like an untied wreath, the 
ends terminating in the Sassanian royal streamers. Over that 
point which in masonry would be called the key-stone, rises a 
* See Plate LXII. 
