THE MUJELIBE. 
341 
bottom, where it meets the loose dust and scattered fragments, it 
has mouldered away in an inward sloping direction, giving this 
angle of the Mujelibe the singular effect of an appending watch- 
tower. The decay at the base, and the form in consequence, 
are obviously wrought by the casualties of weather; indeed, all 
the parts of this huge fabric have been terribly torn by the 
rain, which here seems to fall with the body and force of water¬ 
spouts ; the eastern face, in particular, is worn into a deep chan¬ 
nel, nearly from the top to the bottom. However, all these 
depredations of the elements, have only acted on this pile like 
the wrinkles on a human face, marking the advance of years, 
without absolutely breaking the general lineaments. The sun- 
dried bricks, and mode of fixing them, differ in no respect in 
Mujelibe, from the method I had observed in most other massy 
fabrics throughout the general ruins ; namely, the mixture of 
broken straw or reeds with the mud used as cement; also the 
layers of perfect reeds between the horizontal courses of the 
bricks. In many of the other structures, the courses were of 
unequal heights, which these reed strata marked ; but here, the 
straw line ran its unbroken length between the ranges of every 
single brick course. 
From the general appearance of this piece of ruin, I scarcely 
think that its solid elevation has ever been much higher than it 
stands at present. I have no doubt of its having been a ground¬ 
work, or magnificent raised platform, (like that of Persepolis, 
though there it was of the native rock ;) to sustain habitable 
buildings of consequence. The whole of the existing mass, 
bears that affinity with those already described, as to lead us to 
conclude, it must have been superficed from the base to the 
summit with the usual fire-burnt bricks ; where lofty battlements 
