description of Khan Shereefs fort. I have already described its
locality on the borders of Toorkisth[=a]n. It was situated at the base
of a low conical hill, on the summit of which a look-out tower had
been erected; this building was in troublesome times occupied by a
party of Juzzylchees, who took their station in it, and, fixing their
cumbrous pieces on the parapet, watched the approach of any hostile
party, and from their commanding and protected position would be
enabled to keep in check an enemy attempting to ascend the opposite
side of the hill. As the nearest stream of water was full two miles
from the fort, the present owner, being a man full of science and
mathematical knowledge, had with unparalleled ingenuity sunk a deep
and substantial well inside his walls, thus rendering his position
infinitely more tenable than if his water-carriers had been daily
obliged, as is the case in most places, to run the gauntlet of
the enemy's fire whilst procuring the requisite supply of that
indispensable article.

The fort itself was an oblong square, and required three hundred men
to man its walls; it was built of mud, with a large bastion at each
angle three and four stories high, and loopholed. It had but one gate,
on which the nature of the defences afforded means for concentrating a
heavy fire. Immediately facing the gate, and detached from buildings
of inferior importance, was the Khan's own residence, and some low
flat-roofed houses lining the inside of the whole extent of walls,
which afforded a secure shelter to the vassals. The audience-chamber
or public sitting-room was so situated that the Kh[=a]n could survey
the whole of the interior of his fort whilst squatting on his
Persian carpet or reclining on the large soft pillow, which is an
indispensable luxury for a grandee of the rank and importance of
Kh[=a]n Shereef.