history, he made it his war-horse, in all
his engagements against the Demons.]

[Footnote 4: The sex of this fabulous animal is not clearly made out! It
tells Zal that it had nursed him like a _father_, and therefore I have,
in this place, adopted the masculine gender, though the preserver of
young ones might authorize its being considered a female. The Simurgh is
probably neither one nor the other, or both! Some have likened the
Simurgh to the Ippogrif or Griffin; but the Simurgh is plainly a biped;
others again have supposed that the fable simply meant a holy recluse of
the mountains, who nourished and educated the poor child which had been
abandoned by its father.]

[Footnote 5: This custom is derived from the earliest ages of Persia,
and has been continued down to the present times with no abatement of
its pomp or splendor Mr. Morier thus speaks of the progress of the
Embassy to Persia:--

"An Istakbal composed of fifty horsemen of our Mehmandar's tribe,
met us about three miles from our encampment; they were succeeded as
we advanced by an assemblage on foot, who threw a glass vessel
filled with sweetmeats beneath the Envoy's horse, a ceremony which
we had before witnessed at Kauzeroon, and which we again understood
to be an honor shared with the King and his sons alone. Then came
two of the principal merchants of Shiraz, accompanied by a boy, the
son of Mahomed Nebee Khan, the new Governor of Bushere. They,
however, incurred the Envoy's displeasure by not dismounting from
their horses, a form always observed in Persia by those of lower
rank, when they met a superior. We were thus met by three Istakbals
during the course of the day."]

[Footnote 6: The province of Mazinderan, of which the principal city is
Amol, comprehends the whole of the southern coast of the Caspian sea. It
was known to the ancients by the name of Hyrcania. At the period to
which the text refers, the country was in the possession of demons.]

[Footnote 7: The fort called Killah Suffeed, lies about seventy-six
miles northwest of the city of Shiraz. It is of an oblong form, and
encloses a level space at the top of the mountain, which is covered with
delightful verdure, and watered by numerous springs. The ascent is near
three miles, and for the last five or six hundred yards, the summit is
so difficult of approach, that the slightest opposition, if well
directed, must render it impregnable.]

[Footnote 8: The numeri