THE CITY OF ARDABEEL. 285 escape of the Firman-Firma, and his brother, the Shuja- es-Sultaneh. These princes were forthwith sent under an escort to Tehran, from which place, after the Shuja- es-Sultaneh had been deprived of sight, they were despatched as state prisoners to the fortress of Ardabeel. Ardabeel, the state prison of Persia, stands on a well-watered plain on the Northern extremity of the high table-land of Iran. The population of the city was formerly considerable, but the plague and cholera have reduced it so much that it now contains but three thou- sand families. On the southern side of the place is situated the fortress a small work, about two hundred yards square, erected by Abbass Meerza. The inhabi- tants of Ardabeel reckon their city to be, save three, the most ancient town in Persia ; and the truth that the table-land of Iran was once covered with water has given rise here to the fable that King Solomon, by the aid of the two deevs, Ard and Beel, opened a passage through the mountains, by which the waters that covered the earth were drained off into the Caspian Sea. The town of Ard and Beel is famous as being the place of sepulture of Sheikh Sen*, the renowned progenitor of the Sefaveean kings. Here also was buried Shah Ismail, the first monarch of that dynasty. Their tombs, and the buildings in which they are enclosed, are orna- mented with gold, silver and inlaid-work, and the chapel of the Sheikh has its walls lined with velvet, which now hangs in tatters. In the apartment devoted to prayer there is a carpet bearing the date 946 of the Hejira, woven into the pattern. The library is said to contain a considerable number of old volumes ; but the value of the collection is believed to have been somewhat
