'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from January 1847 to May 1849. Edited by the Secretary. Volume VIII.' [‎265] (374/496)

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angry declamations, accompanied by hostile menaces, would, no doubt,
have ended in open rupture between the parties, did not the presence of
the Major restrain them. I had taken the usual daily observations for
determining the position of the place, and endeavoured to work them
out, but the Babel-like confusion within the solitary apartment ill
accorded with the quiet so necessary to logarithmic calculation, so I
resigned it in despair: indeed, I place but little confidence in the results
eventually obtained from these observations,* as the influx of the multi
tude into the Khan caused the mercury of the artificial horizon to
tremble in such a degree as to preclude almost an approach to correct
ness. As evening drew nigh our friends gradually left us, and we were
enabled to leave the confined space we had all day occupied, with the
thermometer at 105 , for the terrace of the Khan. A sumptuous meal,
to which that luxury, ice, brought from the mountains above us, contri
buted not a little, soon dispelled the feverish languor which had crept
over the party from fatigue and the deprivation of sleep. We were again
in the saddle at 8 p. m.
The Khans of Sar-Puli Zohab, for there are two, stand in the valley
of the Hoi wan, on the right bank of the river, at the foot of a spur pro
jecting from the high range of the Band-i-Noah to the JST. W. They
are surrounded by a few huts, and some reed villages of Bazilan Kurds
occupy the neighbouring plain. In themselves they are altogether
unworthy of notice, but the locality is one of great interest. The pro
jecting spur abovementioned is called the Dukkani Baud range, and is
covered with figures and inscriptions of the Kaiamanand Sassanian
ages. The Holwan, flowing from its source in the defile of Bijab, tum
bles with great violence through a gorge in the range close to the
Khans; and on the left bank of the stream, opposite to them, the remains
of the Calah of Asshur,f and the Halah of the Xsraelitish captivity, one
of the eight primeval cities of the world, are still washed by its waters.
Parts of the ancient buildings are seen in section, from the river having
* By these results the bridge at Sar-Puli Zohab is in latitude 34° 26 / N 4 and
East of Baghdad 1° 20' 56" N.
t See Major Rawlinson’s Notes in the Royal Geographical Journal, on a March
Jiom Zohab to Khuzistan. In a later era it was known to the Persians and Arabs
by the name of Holwan, and Dr Ross, who visited this part of the country in 1835,
states it to be sometimes called Samangan and Hiliwan.—As late as the Sassanian.
ages it continued a city of considerable importance. Yezdijerd, the last of that
dynasty, fled to it on his defeat by Wakasibu Saad, and we may therefore date its
decline from the invasion of the Arab hordes, A. D. 636 when Mahomedauism
succeeded to the religion of Zoroaster.