In the year 1061 of the Hegira (A. D. 1651) the author, then in _Sikakul of Kalang_,[265] was attacked by a disease which no application could alleviate. An astrologer pronounced, that “the cause of this malady arises from the overpowering force of the regent Mars;” on which, several distinguished Brahmins assembled on the fourth of _Zíkâdah_ (the 9th October) the same year, and having set out the image of Bahrám and collected the suitable perfumes, with all other things fit for the operation, employed themselves in reading prayers and reciting names; at last, their chief, taking up with great reverence the image of Mars, thus entreated: “O illustrious angel and celestial leader! moderate thy heat, and be not wrathful: but be merciful to such a one” (pointing to me). He then plunged the image into perfumed water; immediately on the immersion of the image, the pain was removed. In front of each temple was a large fire-temple, so that there were seven in all: namely, the _Kaiwan-ázar_, _Hormuz-ázar_, _Bahrám-ázar_, _Hár-ázar_, _Nahíd-ázar_, _Tír-ázar_, and _Máh-ázar_, so that each fire-temple was dedicated to one of the seven planets, and in these they burnt the proper perfumes. They assert that, during the flourishing empire of the early monarchs, several sacred structures, such as those of the Kâbah and the holy temple of Mecca;[266] Jerusalem; the burial-place of Muhammed; the asylum of prophecy, in Medina; the place of repose of Alí,[267] the prince of the faithful in Najf; the sepulchre of Imam Husain in Kerbela;[268] the tomb of Imam Musa[269] in Baghdad;[270] the mausoleum of Imam Reza[271] in Sanábád of Tús; and the sanctuary of Alí in Balkh,[272] were all in former times idol and fire-temples. They say that Mahabad after having built a fire temple, called _Haftsúr_ or seven ramparts, in Istakhar of Persia,[273] erected a house to which he gave the name of _Abád_, and which is at present called the _Kâbah_: and which the inhabitants of that country were commanded to hold in reverence: among the images of the _Kâbah_ was one of the moon, exceedingly beautiful, wherefore the temple was called _Máhgáh_ (Moon’s place) which the Arabs generally changed into Mekka. They also say that among the images and statues left in the Kâbah by Mahabad and his renowned successors, one is the black stone,[274] the emblem of Saturn. They also say that the prophet of Arabia worshipped the seven planets, and he therefore left undisturbed the black stone or Saturn’s emblem, which had remained since the time of the Abadian dynasty; but that he broke or carried away the other figures introduced by the Koreish, and which were not formed according to the images of the stars. In most of the ancient temples of Persia they had formed the symbol of Venus in the figure of a _Mihrab_, or arch, like the altar of the mosques: consequently the present _Mihrab_, or altar, is that identical symbol: which assertion