“In some places,” says Mr. Fraser, “the number of sculptures is so great, that they bewilder the eye. Those figures, which are disposed in groups to suit the compartments, are variously habited and employed. Some resemble royal guards and attendants, clothed in long robes, with brogue-like buskins, and fluted flat-topped caps, bearing bows and quivers, shields and spears. Others are placed in long rows, and appear to represent a procession of many nations, being differently dressed and appointed. They bear gifts and offerings, and lead animals of various sorts. Animals stand on a pedestal, which elevates them five feet. Their heads are so mutilated, that it is impossible to say what they were meant to represent; their necks are decorated with collars of roses; short curled hair covers the chest, back, and ribs; and the workmanship is singularly correct and delicate. “Almost every one in this procession holds in his hand a figure like the lotos; a flower full of meaning to the ancients. That the Persians offered horses to the sun, and oxen to the moon, is fully shown by this procession.” “Though, at first sight,” says Sir Robert Porter, “I acknowledge that a general similitude to the Egyptian contour strikes the mind; yet the impression gradually wears away when the details are examined; the finishing of the parts, and the grace and truth of the bas-reliefs, every where proclaiming the refined taste and master chisels of Greece. When comparing the colossal proportions of the structure, and its gigantic sculptures, with the delicacy, beauty, and perfection of the execution of its ornaments, I might say, with the poet, ‘Here the Loves play on the bosom of Hercules.’” Sir Robert Porter supposes that these works of art were designed to perpetuate the memory of the grand religious procession of Cyrus the Great, described by Xenophon; or, probably, that of Darius, at the festival of the Noo Roz, or vernal equinox, receiving presents from the numerous nations of his vast empire.