176 
BAS-RELIEF OF THE DEER HUNT. 
paddle it along, amidst a crowd of aquatic creatures. A singular 
appendage, in the shape of a little piece of linen, like the end 
of a pocket-handkerchief, hangs near the right hips of both the 
principal personages; it is also attached to the side of the eques¬ 
trian warrior. 
We are told by one of the Persian writers, that Khosroo 
Purviz, besides the beautiful Shirene, who alone filled his heart, 
possessed twelve thousand fair candidates for his favour, each 
equal to the moon in the splendour of her charms. From this 
constellation, of beauties, no doubt, the minstrelsy of his boats 
would be selected ; and from the circumstance of so many wo¬ 
men being seen, openly partaking the pleasure of the royal 
chase, we may conclude that at this period of the Persian 
empire, the fair part of its population were neither shut up 
from public society, nor necessarily veiled in the presence of 
men. The bas-relief of the female figure under the arch, and 
that of Baharam Gour’s queen at Nakshi-Roustam, with the 
similar representation on one of that monarch’s coins, all tend 
to prove, not only the comparative freedom of the female sex 
in those Mithratic ages, but that certain individuals of them were 
held in a degree of respect equalising them with man, now never 
heard of in Mahomedan countries. 
The whole scene that I have just described, is inclosed in a 
sort of curtained square, supported on poles, from whence cords 
are attached to the trunks of trees. Near the lower corner a 
man holds up a part of the drapery, through which the slain 
game is carried ; and adjoining, in an outward, upright com¬ 
partment, is shewn its transportation still farther off on the 
backs of elephants. 
The opposite side of the arch is covered with a bas-relief 
