IIADJEE-ABAD. 
513 
valley of Hadjee-abad, retaining its own celebrated title till it 
is lost in that of the Bund-emir. 
The valley, or rather dell of Hadjee-abad, cannot be more 
than two miles in extent from end to end ; the most western 
extremity being formed by the rocks of Nakshi-Roustam, which 
stretch three miles from the village of Hadjee-abad, in a direc¬ 
tion north 68” west. The whole of the northern side of the 
valley is one succession of perpendicular cliffs, pile above pile, 
almost entirely of white marble; their uneven summits taking 
the boldest and wildest forms, broken into yawning chasms, 
and divided by deep rents, torn by the rushing waters; whose 
headlong plunge from the superior heights at certain seasons, 
make themselves hidden channels through the fissures in the 
lower piles ; hence, insinuating their course through veins in 
the mountains which never see the day, they collect in fuller 
streams, and pass at the bottom of many caverns, at the mouths 
of which the traveller may stand and hear the constant echoings 
of the rushing waters within. About noon of the day that I 
halted at Hadjee-abad, I was shewn a piece of antiquity in one 
of these caves, which I believe has not hitherto been noticed. 
It lies about a mile, nearly north, from the village. The en¬ 
trance is exceedingly lofty; and within, the cavern is still more 
so. We see that nature originally formed it of an immense 
heighth and depth ; but not satisfied with her amplitude, manual 
labour has added fifty yards*of excavation in the vaulted roof. 
Along the right side, we found several square places hewn in 
the rock; two, nearest the entrance, at about six or seven feet 
from the floor of the cave, were filled with inscriptions (Plate XV.); 
both were in the Pelhivi character, not much injured, but widely 
differing from each other; one consists of sixteen lines, the 
VOL. i. 3 u 
