BAGDAD ON THE EASTERN BANK OF THE TIGRIS. 263 
burnt and sun-dried bricks, mingled together. This bulwark is 
additionally strengthened by round towers, placed at different 
distances in the wall; and surpassing in height and thickness, 
those of any fortified town I had seen in Persia. Seventeen of 
them are higher than the rest, and, each surmounted with five 
guns of various calibre, command a pretty fair range on all sides. 
Some of a considerable size, like their unwieldy carriages, ap¬ 
pear scarcely serviceable; and others gape, dismounted, over 
the breast of the embrasure. At the north-west termination of 
the wall towards the river, an, embattled area presents itself, 
but of no great extent, to which is given the imposing name of 
the Citadel. Its fortifications are a few feet higher than the 
general ramparts of the city; and it is so placed, that its western 
face overlooks, and commands the egress from the old suburb 
on the opposite bank. It is used as an arsenal, and a barrack 
for the hairy-capped guards of the pasha. 
Three gates lead into the city on this side of the river. That 
to the east, called Al Talistti, bears an inscription, with a date 
of 613 of the Hegira, (A.D. 1221,) only a few years before the 
destruction of the caliphate by the irruption of Holakou and his 
Tartars. This gate is now bricked up, in honour of its having 
been entered in triumph, (about 400 years subsequent to that 
date,) by the Sultan Murad, after his having recovered Bagdad 
from the Persians, and the weak grasp of the unworthy son of 
the great Abbas. In consequence of this signal event, the portal 
was instantly closed on the victor having marched through, 
and from that day, has never been re-opened. This custom of 
shutting up any passage that has been peculiarly honoured, that 
it may not be profaned by vulgar footsteps, appears to have 
prevailed very generally over the East. I found an instance of 
