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The mausoleum is of brick, with a

known in Europe as the Sophis. foundation of stone, and faced by a portico flanked by two pillars encrusted with green tiles. The whole forms a decoration to the town, and is in good taste. This place is under the dominion of H. R. H. Prince ABBAS MIRZA, and is governed by his eldest son MOHAMMED MIRZA, who has only a few personal attendants, and no soldiers whatever, although the town is supposed to be fortified and of great strength. The reception given to KHOSRO MIRZA, by his elder brother, was like that of a slave to his master, and the manner in which this " 'sprig of nobility" treated his entertainer in return, was quite á la Persienne; or, in other words, as much in the spirit of the despotic Shah whom he served. The quarters which were provided for us were sumptuous and elegant when compared with those of the villages through which we had passed before, and our several entertainers vied with each other in proffering their choicest collations. We were lodged in the house of a lively and intelligent Persian, who was the governor's ferosh bashee. He was most anxious to know how his countrymen had behaved during their late mission, and on my assuring him that they all got dead drunk every night of their lives, he exclaimed, "Would to God Prince KHOSRO had permitted me to accompany him, what delights I have lost! In your company I might have committed any excesses with impunity!" I told him that the debauchees in the metropolis of my own country would have stood no chance with the young Prince, and as to his proceedings since we had crossed the Araxes, such as sheep-stealing and village-plundering: these were little foibles done in so gentlemanly a manner that they gave eclat to his pedigree. My host remarked with a laugh, that such proceedings were the inevitable consequences of his calling, and that all his family, including the old Shah himself, had practised them before. He seemed to think that the axiom Il faut vivre" was a very compulsory one in Persia. "And what has the Prince Royal been doing lately?" I asked: "has he been performing the same sort of achievements ?" "Even so," he replied, His Highness is gathering in his due to pay the troops." You mean," I rejoined, "for the support of his haram, a prosperous harvest to him." "God's will be done," continued my friend, a few hundred men can do any thing." In this, however, he was mistaken, for the "few hundred men," we afterwards heard, were attacked by a superior force from the hills, and most of the " posse comitatus" laid on the field! So much for Persian finance. It is even worse than rent-collecting in Ireland.

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The height of the town of Ahar above the sea, as estimated by the temperature at which water boils (20530 of Fahrenheit) may approach

to 3,300 feet. LESLIE's hygrometer only fell to 30°, which may be attributed to the moisture of the air by the melting snow, for the climate is naturally very dry. Our position appeared so close to Mount Savalan that I was desirous of attempting its ascent, but the natives informed me that we were at least nine farsangs, or thirty-six miles off; and that there was no regular road leading to it. Such is our deception of the distances of mountains, in an open and bare country, which presents no succession of objects by which the eye may calculate relative dis

tances.

This mount is greatly venerated by the Persians. It derives its name from a Sherif, or lineal descendant of the prophet Mohammed, whose dead body they say still lies in one of its numerous chasms in the highest preservation. The peasantry of the surrounding plain insist that upon its summit the ark of NOAH rested, and describe the curiosities in its neighbourhood as very numerous. Its ascent would doubtless be most interesting, and at the same time most dangerous. I saw a man who assured me he had some years ago accomplished it.* He described the undertaking as extremely hazardous, as it is surrounded with high, and partly snow-covered, walls of rock, which must be ascended to reach the top, immensely steep and fatiguing to attain : but when attained, a magnificent and striking view of Alpine scenery astonishes the beholder. The peak is surmounted with a wreath of snow, whose border is beautifully fringed and fantastically shaped.

While we were smoking our kaliuns in the evening, immediately before Savalan, with a bright moon throwing her silver touches along the line of its rugged points, I was apprized that the Prince's astrologer had been examining the stars, and according to his divination, the suite could not depart for Tabriz until the expiration of seventy hours; it was then to quit the town gates at midnight, to enable KнOSRO MIRZA to enter his father's capital three hours and a half after sunrise, that being the most fortunate moment of the day, agreeable to astrological calculation. This caused us to make preparations to complete the remainder of the journey alone, and consequently we departed from Ahar on the 22nd of February, at the hour of noon, with a thick mist, which at this time of the year is common to Karadaugh. After having cleared the suburbs, the fog took off, and we traversed the plain on a bearing of west. The river Ahar wound its way through

* Captain SHEE of the Madras Infantry effected its ascent in 1827 with a party of English travellers: an account of the trip is given in Monteith's Survey-Tour, Journ. Geog. Soc. iii. 27. The tomb and skeleton were found on the summit, some of the dried flesh and pieces of the winding sheet still adhering to the bones.-ED.

the white unbroken surface, till it terminated in the horizon. This stream takes its rise at the village of Uzumdil, and flows throughout the district. In an hour after leaving the town of Ahar we stopt at a poor hamlet to quench our thirst. During the whole journey I suffered exceedingly, and by eating snow found that my lips were parched and burnt the more. In fact my mouth became more and more inflamed, my desire for drink fearfully augmented, and a lassitude crept over me which water alone could dissipate. The most essential article in our equipment was a small pot, in which we melted and boiled the snow water. This last is the most necessary part of the process; for if the snow is merely melted, the water has a smoked and disagreeably bitter taste; but if the water is allowed to boil, and then cooled by throwing in plenty of snow, it becomes most refreshing and delightful to the taste, and perfectly satisfies the thirsty and harassed traveller.

We traversed the plain in a westerly direction still, and commenced the ascent of an abrupt mountain, composed of schistus and pudding stone. Upon our left appeared the lofty Savalan, and although the sun's last beams had quitted our airy position, they still illumined the

mount.

"It stood before us

A mount of snow fretted with golden pinnacles."

On descending the south-eastern face of the mountain, we obtained an extensive view of the valley below, whose romantic scenery I had not seen equalled in the stupendous regions of the Caucasus. At nightfall we reached a village on an eminence called Shehruk, and halted for the night. A crowd of women and young children collected about us, and vied with each other in proffering their assistance, some ran off for sour milk, and others to prepare bread and cheese. These lively females wore no veils, and their plumpness was well set off by large turbans, loose jackets, and capacious trousers. They all spoke the Turkish language, and appeared disappointed on finding that we were unable to converse together. Our next evening's halt was made at Khojah, a small village seated on a hill, and beside a salt stream. Our quarters at this place were most wretched, and to complete our misery, the fleas which had always been extremely troublesome were here as voracious as bull-dogs. We discovered nothing which prevented their biting the exposed part of the body, though the natives spoke of a particular grass which drove them away. The natives of the country suffer in some degree from them, but their flesh does not swell much. Nothing will keep them at bay, but smoke from wood-fires, nor will this do unless we completely envelope ourselves in the midst of it, which would nearly cause suffocation or blindness. They are

extremely greedy, and if the body of one that is sucking is cut in half, it still appears to suck, and the blood flows from where it was severed in two. Night and day they are equally annoying: it is vain to lie down at any prescribed hour, for no sleep can possibly be obtained, unless we are completely exhausted by fatigue; and in the morning the face is rendered frightful to look at, and the hands and legs covered with blood. The flies also were almost as bad as the fleas; they were larger, though not so poisonous.

Khojah is the property of one MIRZA BABA, who holds the appointment of Physician to the Prince Royal. Some years ago this erudite pupil of Esculapius was sent to London by ABBAS MIRZA, for the purpose of studying medicine, and he resided in the metropolis for a considerable time, but it appears he was too lazy to obtain his di ploma. As he was temporarily attached to the suite of Prince KHOSROU, I had an opportunity of seeing a good deal of him; and like most Asiatics that I have met, his countenance was so entirely at variance with his conduct as to defy the boasted science of a physiognomist. He always considered his kaleun a part of himself; and in excuse for being Entre deux vins," he stoutly maintained that owing to the cold and moisture of the weather, it was highly salutiferous to swallow a dram whensoever it could be obtained. His sobriety, however, was unimpeachable, he could drink all day with impunity : you might as well have attempted to intoxicate a sponge. In fact, the only advantage he appeared to have gained over the rest of his countrymen was that of having added our vices to his own.

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[To be continued.]

V.—Observations on the Golden Ore, found in the Eastern Provinces of Mysore in the year 1802. By Lieut. JOHN WARREN, H. M. 33rd Regiment.

[On looking over the manuscript papers of the Asiatic Society, we have found the following account, dated in 1802, of the mines near Venkatagiri in the Carnatic, which, as it gives the original observations of an officer of ability, known as the author of the Kala Sankalita, we are induced to publish at this moment, when the gold mines of the opposite coast are attracting public attention both at home and in India.-ED.]

As I was employed in surveying the eastern boundary of Mysore in the month of February, 1802, I heard a vague report that gold had been found in the earth somewhere near a small hill, about nine miles east of Budicatta*, and on which the frontier I was then describing * Yerra Baterine Hill.

was shortly to take me. I accordingly directed my people to make every inquiry which might tend to establish the fact, and offered a reward to any who would communicate information respecting it.

This being held out throughout the country within my reach, a rayat of a small village called Wurigam, presented himself and offered to show the place, which he asserted was close to his village.

Being unwilling to interrupt the service on which I was then employed, I requested, before taking any steps, that a quantity of the impregnated earth might be brought and examined in my presence : accordingly on the 11th of February, this man returned to Battamangalam, where I then was, with twenty loads of earth, which being tried, yielded a proportion of gold dust as had been asserted.

Having thus satisfied myself that there actually was in the neigh. bourhood a certain spot where the earth was impregnated with gold, I resolved on visiting it: and accordingly sat out for Wúrigam on the 17th of February, accompanied by the man who originally gave the information.

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On arrival at Wurigam, my guide assembled all the women in the village, for the purpose of collecting and washing the impregnat. ed earth this part of the business being entirely assigned to them, and each being provided with a small broom, a vaning basket, and an hollow board to receive the earth, moved to a thin jungle which lies close west of the village.

On arriving at the ground, they separated, and took to small nálas, or rather rutts and breaks in the ground, into which the course of the water is most likely to drive the ore, and removing the gravel with their hands, they swept the earth underneath into their vaning baskets, by the help of which they further cleared it of the smaller stones, and threw it in the hollow board above-mentioned.

Having collected a sufficient quantity of earth, they removed to a neighbouring tank, in order to separate the metal which it contained, and this was done by placing the hollow board, which contained it, in such a situation in the water as to be just overflowed when resting on the ground, and no more. They then with great dexterity stirred the earth about with the hand, so as to keep it as much as possible over the centre of the board, that the metal should fall into the pit of it, by its own weight, and that the earth should wash off over the edges. This operation (which generally lasts a few minutes) being performed, they returned the metallic substance, which they thus cleared, into a piece of a broken earthen pot, examining beforehand whether or not it contained any gold. This process is performed by inclining the board, and with the hand passing water over the metallic sediment which ad

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