Describing the city of Jur Istakhri says that it was built by Ardeshir. "It is said that here water used to be collected as in a lake. The king had taken a vow to build a city and to erect a fire temple at the place where he had defeated his enemy. He had the place drained, and when it was dried he built the city of Jur on the site. The city in its extent is like Istakhr, Sabur, and Darabgird. It had mud walls and moats and many gates, the eastern one being called the gate of Mihr, the western the gate of Bahram, the northern the gate of Hormuz, and the southern the gate of Ardeshir. In the centre of the city is a building with a cupola built by Ardeshir. It is said that it is so high that it commands a view of the city and its surroundings. _High at its top is a fire altar_.[1]" (P. 56). [Sidenote: Languages of Iran.] In another portion of his book Istakhri describes the inhabitants as thin, with little growth of hair and of brown colour. "In the colder tracts," he continues, "the people are of a taller stature with a thick growth of hair and very fair. They speak three languages,--the Parsi, which everybody speaks and which is employed in their letters and their literature; the Magians who dwell among them use the Pahlavi in their writings, but it needs for a thorough understanding an explanation in Parsi; and Arabic which is the language used in the correspondence of the Sultan, the Government Boards, the grandees and the Amirs." (P. 67). [Footnote 1: This goes to confirm the hypothesis of Sir John Marshall that the curious structure with probably a fire-altar at the top excavated by him at Taxila near Rawal Pindi is a Zoroastrian _atash-kadeh_.] [Sidenote: Tardy Converts.]