The city of Herat, built entirely of mud with certain outworks lying beyond its walls, stands in a hollow. It forms a quadrangle 1600 yards by 1500 yards. On the western, southern and eastern faces the wall is a straight line, the only projecting points being the gateways and the bastions. On the northern face, the line is broken by the old Ark or citadel, which stands back about 200 yards from the main wall and is situated upon a high, artificial mound, which is 250 feet in width and between 50 and 60 feet in height. Above this the walls of the city rise an additional 30 feet. There are five gates--the Kutabchak near the north-east angle of the wall and the Malik gate at the re-entering angle formed by the wall of the Ark and the continuation of the north wall. The other gates are on the western, southern and eastern faces, the names respectively being the Irak, Kandahar and Kushk. Four streets, running from the centre of each face, meet at the Charsu, a domed square covered with beams and matting in the heart of the city. A wide, road encircles the walls on the inside, although its upkeep has been sadly neglected. The defences of the city are contained by the wall which stands above the mound. On its outer slope there were at one time two parallel trenches, covered by low parapets; but the trenches, like the moat at the foot of the mound, are now choked up. There are 25 bastions on each wall. The gates, defended by works differing from one another in shape, are of irregular design. They resemble redans, with sides of unequal length and project about 200 feet beyond the main wall. The defences of the gateways are of a lower profile than those of the main works. At the apex of the projection a small rectangular traverse screens the postern. The northern wall is irregular. Near its centre, thrown back about 200 yards from the main wall and standing on a mound of its own, is the position of the old citadel. A “return” in the wall, leading down on this work from the eastern portion of the north face, terminates on the counterscarp of its ditch. The western face, retired about 100 yards behind the eastern face, connects with the north-west angle of the citadel by a slight bend. There are two gateways on this front, the one about 200 yards to the westward of the north-east angle and the other in the main wall. This latter is unprovided with the irregular projecting work attached to the others.