an ancient city of Persia, formerly one of the richest and greatest in the extensive province of Khorassan, is situated in a fine plain, about eighty miles in length by fifty or sixty in breadth, well studded with fine villages, and plentiful gardens full of trees, which bear fruits of the highest flavour. According to Frazer, in his Narrative of a Journey into Khorassan (p. 432), it was a rich and pleasing scene, and by far the most populous and cultivated tract he had seen in Persia. This plain was formerly irrigated by 12,000 aqueducts, which have now been suffered to fall into decay, and are destitute of water. The city has suffered deeply from the wars which have at different times desolated Persia. It was destroyed by Alexander the Great, and was, after the lapse of many years, rebuilt by Sapor I., whose statue was to be seen at Nishapour until it was overturned and broken in pieces by the Arabs. About the middle of the twelfth century Nishapour was taken by the Tartars, and so completely ruined by those barbarians, that the inhabitants, on their return, could not distinguish the site of their own houses. Hakani the Persian poet, who flourished at this period, describes, in the most affecting terms, the overthrow of this great city. It recovered from this ruin, however, and once more regained its former splendour, when it was again taken and pillaged by the savage Genghis Khan, and reduced to desolation. The inhabitants amount at present to about 15,000, who occupy only a single quarter of the city, the ruins of which are said to cover a circuit of twenty-five miles. The most delicious fruits are here found in the greatest abundance. The city is at present subject to the dominion of the king of Persia, and has nine districts dependent on it, each of which contains about ten walled villages. It is thirty miles south of Meshed, and 230 north-east of Herat.