THE SECOND ARCH. 
187 
and wild boars; and the noble game of lions and tigers, was 
sometimes turned loose, for the bolder pleasures of the chase. 
Nine hundred and sixty elephants were maintained for the use 
of the great king: (eastern authors mention his whole stud of 
these gorgeous animals, to the amount of thirteen thousand :) his 
tents and baggage were carried into the field by twelve thousand 
great camels, assisted by eight thousand of a smaller size ; and 
the royal stables were filled with six thousand mules, and fifty 
thousand horses, amongst whom the names of Shub-deez, and 
Bareed, are renowned for their speed or beauty.” 
I have already observed, that the two winged figures, and or¬ 
namental sculptures on the front of the arch, are in a similar 
taste to that which prevailed in the lower empire about this 
period; and, it is not unlikely, connected as Khosroo was with 
its sovereign, that he either brought away with him to Persia, or 
sent for after his restoration, some celebrated artist of the 
Roman-Grecian school, whose extensive genius planned, directed, 
or executed, all the public works, architectural embellishments, 
and royal sculptures of this monarch’s reign. It is also not 
improbable, that this rare personage met his death by the acci¬ 
dent of a fall, a fate too incidental to the variety of Lis employ¬ 
ment ; from which circumstance, connected with the other par¬ 
ticulars, have arisen the many romantic tales concerning the 
wonderful powers, and mournful catastrophe of the “ admirable 
Ferhaud.” 
My next engagement was in the second arch, which is of less 
dimensions than the preceding, being in width only nineteen 
feet, and in depth twelve. Its exterior is without ornament, 
while the bas-relief within, which faces the opening, appears to 
have been a piece of very rough workmanship, and is rendered 
b b 2 
