TARBEEZ. 
225 
a less impaired state, thanjmy_°f Its other quarter s : it l ooks 
t owards the town and valley. Near io the foundation of the 
before -mentioned tower, we find two band s of a dark-blueis h 
stone, let into the wall . The blocks which compose them are o f_ 
oblong shapes, each from five to six feet in length, and a re placed 
in their present situation in so promiscuous a way, as to leave 
little doubt, both from their fashion being so different from the 
rest of the building, and the hasty manner of their insertion, that 
they formed no part of the original structure. It is related, that 
Abbas the Great ordered the works in this quarter of the city to 
be restored to a perfect state of defence . This repair might 
have been done at that period ; which was about the time when 
he caused the destruction of every strong-hold between Erivan 
and Tabreez ; a precaution against any future attempts, from the 
then humbled Turks. In traversing the interior of the ruins, we 
found several spacious and vaulted apartme nts, much below the 
present surface of the ground; and near to them the remains of 
a magnificen t mosque. Heaps of tiles , of dust, and of furnace- 
made bricks , fill up its shattered walls ; but these ruins are inter¬ 
spersed in many places, with pieces of the white transparent 
marble , so renowned by the name o f Tabreez marble ; and which 
is dug from the mountains, on the borders of the lake of Ou- 
roomia. We traced the foundations of othe r con siderable build- 
ings; and distinctly marked where the b aths had been. Indeed, 
from the undisturbed architectural dispositions of all these re¬ 
mains, I am led to conclude, that the most violent effects of the 
earthquakes must have been confined to the plain. The horrors 
of war, and the hand of time, might sufficiently account for the 
dilapidations of these more elevated structures ; there not being 
amongst them any of the over-turned appearances which we find 
/st** ^ 
VOL, I. 
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