As _Irad_ signifies _consecrated to God_, so _Iran_ does _the land of those so consecrated_; and accordingly we may be assured that it was in _that precise region_ that the Budhists had first established the _insignia_ of their empire.[265] Let us now inquire what light will the _Dabistan_ afford to our labours. It is known that Sir John Malcolm was no ready convert to its merits; his abridgment of it, therefore, cannot be suspected of any colouring; and, as I like the testimony of reluctant witnesses, I shall even make _him_ the interpreter of its recondite contents. “In almost all the _modern_ accounts of Persia,” says he, “which have been translated from Mahomedan authors, _Kaiomurs_ is considered the _first king of that country_; but the Dabistan, a book professedly compiled from works of the ancient Guebrs, or worshippers of fire, presents us with a chapter on a succession of monarchs and prophets who preceded Kaiomurs. According to its author the Persians, previous to the reign of Kaiomurs, and consequently _long before the mission of Zoroaster_, venerated a prophet called _Mah-abad_, or the Great (rather the _Good_) Abad, whom they considered as the father of men. We are told in the Dabistan that _the ancient Persians deemed it impossible to ascertain who were the first parents of the human race_. The knowledge of man, they alleged, was quite incompetent to such a discovery; but they believed, on the authority of their books, that Mah-abad was the person left at the _end of the last great cycle_, and consequently the father of the present world. The only particulars they relate of him are, that he and his wife, having survived the former cycle, were blessed with a numerous progeny, who inhabited caves and clefts of rocks, and were uninformed of both the comforts and luxuries of life; that they were at first strangers to order and government, but that Mah-abad, inspired and aided by Divine Power, resolved to alter their condition; and, to effect that object, _planted gardens_, _invented ornaments_, and _forged weapons_. He also taught men to take the fleece from the sheep, and to make clothing; he built cities, constructed palaces, fortified towns, and introduced among his descendants all the benefits of art and commerce. “Mah-abad had thirteen successors of his own family; all of whom are styled _Abad_, and deemed prophets. They were at once the monarchs and the high priests of the country; and during their reigns, the world, we are informed, enjoyed a golden age, which was, however, disturbed by an act of Azer-abad, the last prince of the Mahabadean dynasty, who abdicated the throne, and retired to a life of solitary devotion.