'Travels in Assyria, Media, and Persia, including a journey from Bagdad by Mount Zagros, to Hamadan, the ancient Ecbatana, researches in Ispahan and the ruins of Persepolis, and journey from thence by Shiraz and Shapoor to the sea-shore. Description of Bussorah, Bushire, Bahrein, Ormuz, and Muscat, narrative of an expedition against the pirates of the Persian Gulf, with illustrations of the voyage of Nearchus, and passage by the Arabian Sea to Bombay.' [‎244] (275/582)

244
SEPULCHRE OF SHAH REZA.
also to be encouraged, as much as possible, in others, by the ex
amples which struck the eye of every visitor to his tomb.
The sepulchre had very little of grandeur: a large square room,
ascended to by a flight of steps, and covered by a dome, contained
in its centre an oblong sanctuary, arched over at the top, within
which the ashes of Reza were enclosed in a smaller case. The
tomb within was covered with offerings of silver candlesticks,
dishes, gauze handkerchiefs, tassels, and trinkets, heaped in confu
sion one upon another. The brass bar-work of the outer cage was
finely executed, in the close hollow fabric of a diagonal netting,
the brass rods nearly an inch in diameter, and the squares between
them about the same size, the whole being equal to any thing of
the kind that I had ever seen in Europe or elsewhere. On the side
of this work which faced the entrance, were hung two or three
paltry looking-glasses, and some written tablets in Arabic; small
carpets were spread over the whole, and printed cotton cloths and
shawls were hung around the interior of the dome, like the tro
phies of our naval victories beneath the dome of St. Paul's in
London. A profusion of smaller offerings, left by visitors to pro
pitiate some vow, was suspended in all directions; but as we were
unprepared for this act of piety, we departed from the shrine
without leaving even a tribute behind us.
On quitting the tomb of Shah Reza, we passed through the
remainder of the burying-ground in which it stands. The tombs
were all Mohammedan, though some were of a very early age ; and
their general character was that of oblong blocks of stone, about
the common size of a coffin, laid on the grave, with the inscription,
chiefly in Arabic, on the upper surface. They were invariably
flat, which forms a characteristic difference from the tombs of the
Soonnees, whom the Sheeahs accuse of heresy in making the tops
of their sepulchres pointed and round.
It was amidst these tombs that we saw the rude statue of an
animal, as like a lion as any thing else, but almost equally resem
bling any other four-footed beast. There are several similar ones