CITY OF RHEY. 
357 
I was not the less gratified, seeing them verified by the expres¬ 
sion of his countenance. Before we withdrew, I promised to 
make a finished drawing from the sketch, for His Majesty’s self; 
and, soon after, our little party left the palace. 
The warm season was now fast approaching, when Teheran 
would be no longer habitable : and, even at the time of my sojourn 
there, though April had not yet expired, the weather was so hot, 
that few liked to expose themselves to the sun, beyond the early 
morning hours. Many of these hours I dedicated to viewing all 
that was either picturesque, or interesting, in the environs of the 
city; every surrounding object, deriving much of the former 
property, from being in the view of the majestic mountain 
Demawund. It bears N. 65° E. of Teheran, about forty miles 
distant; and is seen, raising its lofty and pale summit to the 
north-east of the town ; forming a magnificent pyramid, that 
shoots up from the high range of Elborz; which bounds the 
wide plain in that direction, and curving southward, becomes 
cleft into several long, narrow, and deeply-scarred valleys; along 
the entrances to which, and over their broad broken rocks, are 
spread the ruins of the famous city of Bhey —- spelt sometimes 
Rhe, or Bey. 
The names of Rhages, Europa, Arsacia, and Rhey, have all, 
at different periods, designated this ancient metropolis ; each 
name giving just grounds for anticipating the richest succession 
of antiquities, if curiosity might be permitted to explore the 
huge mounds which cover its buried remains. The Persians 
ascribe its origin to Houshong, the grandson of Kaiomurs; 
therefore, only third in descent from the first monarch of that 
dynasty, who, by every calculation, must have been several 
centuries before the age of Cyrus. Our scriptural accounts of 
Rhey or Rhages, during the captivity of the Jews in this part of 
