602 
ZINGAR KALA. 
pyramidal in its form, and of such small expanse at the summit, 
it is next to impossible to suppose that any building whatever 
could have been erected there, to which that door might have 
been only an appendage. Indeed, so scanty is the plane of the 
rock, that the artificial platform I have before described, must 
have been made to obtain a little more room for enacting the 
purposes for which the broad flat surface was required. From 
what I have just said respecting the narrowness of the whole 
extent, no idea can present itself of any thing like a fortified post 
having been here. The present appearances, then, can only be 
resolved into reasonable use, by supposing it one of the high 
places consecrated to the worship of the sun. The cell within 
has been the repository of the sacred fire ; and the platform 
above, designed for the sacrificial or other rites performed in the 
eye of the people. It faces the east, the kebla to which all those 
worshippers were directed to turn themselves in prayer. 
We returned to the village of Tamar, our rest for the night, 
rather fatigued with the heat and bodily exertion attendant on 
the latter part of our expedition ; but our refreshment was good, 
from the abundant harvests and gardens of the plain. The 
district of Salmos, in which our menzil lay, is not very extensive, 
but its fertility is great; and the villages it numbers, particularly 
towards the mountains in the west, are estimated at nearly 200. 
It boasts two towns ; one called Salmos, (its little capital,) and 
the other Dilmar, distant from Tamar about eight miles. 
September 34th. — We recommenced our march this morning 
at five o’clock, taking a course north-east over the plain, towards 
Sultan-abad, a large village, which we reached in an hour and a 
half. Hence we continued over a waste tract for three miles, 
passing the villages of Kara Kishlock and Yow Shanlee. From 
