ppeared as if a large number of horses had been kept.

Besides these there were in the western portion of the city quantities of
domed roofs, very small, a few still perfect, but mostly fallen in on the
northern side. The houses directly under the shelter of the northern wall
were in the best preservation, and many of them were still almost
entirely above ground. They were quadrangular or rectangular in shape,
made of mud, and with a low door on the south side. The larger ones had
ventilating channels with perforated slits in the north wall, like those
in Rustam's store-room, but all the houses were extremely small--an
average of 12 feet by 12 feet.

In the southern portion of the city, where exposed to the wind, the
dwellings were deep-buried in sand, and hardly more than the domes
remained above ground. There were, however, one or two higher buildings,
presumably some of the better dwellings inhabited by Rustam's officers. A
portion of the south walls, which, curiously enough, had quadrangular
towers instead of tapering circular ones, had collapsed, and so had the
corresponding portion of the north wall.

The city wall was of great interest, and even on the west side, where it
was of less strength, was constructed in successive tiers, each of less
than a man's height, and each with a path extending all along so that it
could be remanned continuously in time of attack. When one man of the
higher platform fell another could replace him immediately from the
platform directly below. The towers were much higher than the wall.

The city gate was of great strength, the two front towers being
strengthened inwardly by a third quadrangular tower. A raised block under
the gateway was said to be the execution place.

This city, historians declare, was destroyed by Bahram, who caused it to
be burnt, but there is no evidence whatever in the buildings to show that
a conflagration ever occurred in this place at all. In fact, it is rather
difficult to understand how buildings entirely of mud could be burned.
The city, it is said, was abandoned only about a century ago, when the
Sarbandi entered it by treachery and drove out the Rais tribe.

[Illustration: Rustam's City, showing Rustam's House in Citadel, also
domed roofs blown in from the North.]

A few hundred feet to the south outside the city wall are the remains of
the stable of Rustam's legendary gigantic horse. Part of the high wall
still stands up on the top of the sectio