[Footnote CO: The present writer remembers hearing from his mother her recollections of her paternal grandmother, the wife of Ḥájí Mírzá Abu'l-Qásim, which included an account of the washing away of the writings of the Báb. Huge copper collanders were used for the purpose. The paper was either buried or thrown into wells.] A day or two before the house of Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid `Alí was raided, Ḥájí Mírzá Abu'l-Qásim wrote to Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid Muḥammad, who was still in Bú[_sh_]ihr, in tones of great dismay: opposition was mounting, even a relative by marriage was vociferously denouncing the Báb (whom he names as Ḥájí Mírzá `Alí-Muḥammad throughout his letter) and Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid `Alí. As there were certain matters which Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid `Alí could not manage by himself, he desired Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid Muḥammad to come as soon as possible from Bú[_sh_]ihr, to do all that was needed to settle their affairs. 'Some people may feel ashamed and keep within bounds when they see you,' he wrote. He wanted to be freed of their trading engagements so that he could take his family and leave [_Sh_]íráz, to avoid any further injustices. * * * * * Iṣfahán, towards which the Báb set His face, was and is, _par excellence_, the city of `Abbás the Great, the most illustrious of the Ṣafavid monarchs (1501-1732), who is best known in the West because of his association with the Sherley brothers and the East India Company, with whose aid he drove the Portuguese out of the Persian Gulf. He is 'The Great Sophy' of Shakespeare. Iṣfahán had been the capital of the Saljúqs (Seljucids), centuries before, but it had suffered neglect in the intervening years. [_Sh_]ah `Abbás moved his capital from Qazvín to Iṣfahán, and began restoring the city which was to be styled, erelong, Niṣf-i-Jahán--Half-the-World. Magnificent mosques and colleges and pavilions, and the largest public square in the world, are prominent among that great ruler's works, and are there today to inspire wonder and admiration. But with the decline and eventual fall of the Ṣafavids, Iṣfahán, too, declined and met with repeated misfortunes in the days of the Qájárs, who pulled down or painted over Ṣafavid buildings. In that autumn of 1846, the Governor-General of Iṣfahán was a Georgian eunuch: Manú[_ch_]ihr [_Kh_]án, the Mu`tamidu'd-Dawlih. He had been, writes Layard,