Page:From Constantinople to the home of Omar Khayyam.djvu/256

 134 ON THE TRACK OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT

and Darius ; its present appearance, however, certainly accorded well with Pliny's description. As to the matter of the snakes, however, to which Pliny alludes, there seemed to be a difference of opinion on the subject among the natives, some telling me that serpents were found, others that there were none.^

In the middle of the plain, or about halfway through the pass, there is a tower-like structure of comparatively recent date, resembling a giant beehive and corresponding to the numerous reservoirs and ice-houses that are built by the Per- sians throughout Khurasan. It is round and consists of a succession of seventeen layers or tiers of mortar, with greenish stones sunk in the cement ; and the last four of these circular ridges are constructed only of cement. The whole is sur- mounted by a small cupola, also of cement and about ten feet high, with a hole in the flooring, surrounded by bricks — the only bricks noticed in the structure. The total height of the fabric is about thirty feet, and the doorway openings in the cupola face nearly, but not exactly, the points of the compass. The use for which the building was designed appears to have been to serve as an ambdr, or reservoir-receptacle, and near it was a deep cistern with steps leading down to a vaulted arch of masonry, which was connected by a pipe with a well close by, but which was so far below the surface that I could not see whether it contained water.

About fifty yards to the east was an insignificant mound, adjoining which was a quite modern structure, evidently used by caravans, as could be judged from its well. Still farther eastward, about a hundred yards distant, were the ruins of a small stronghold (ribdt), built of stones, rubble, and bricks ; but the stones were not especially large, nor were the frag- ments of greenish yellow bricks of a size sufficiently massive to indicate any noteworthy antiquity. Yet this impression differs from the opinion of Fraser and the view of East wick, with the

1 Truilhier (1807), op. cit. p. 112, says, ' on y voit de gros serpents en assez grand nombre.'

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