National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

passage, access is gained to a large quadrangular court, which on the east and on
what remains of the north face is enclosed by lines of great vaulted recesses built
against the very thick curtain walls (Fig. 61). At the north-east corner there
is reached through a high-vaulted gallery a well-preserved second gate built with
large cut slabs and having a porch towards the beach close by. Judging from
remains of masonry outside this gate and from what I was told by boatmen
about remnants of walls to be seen under water, where the north face of the
enceinte is now closely approached by the sea, it appears possible that there may
have been here an outwork of which the foundations, still in situ, have been
covered by water through some subsidence of the shore, while the higher por-
tions have been demolished so that the stones might be carried away and used
for building at Bandar Abbās.³

Such operations long continued would account for the complete disappearance
of the greatest part of the enclosing wall on the north face, where convenient
transport of the materials was facilitated by the close approach of the sea.
Effects of the same quarrying are clearly shown also by the extensive damage
which the defences towards the west, forming part of a citadel and originally
of particular strength, have undergone (Fig. 59). There the outer wall facing
of a round bastion has been pulled down, disclosing the circular core of masonry.
Beyond this there are shapeless masses of masonry still standing, embedded
between the remains of two angular towers or bastions built with roughly cut
stone blocks set in regular courses. Could these have belonged to an earlier
Muhammadan fort which the Portuguese utilized as a kernel for their citadel?

Returning to the court within the castle, we find in its centre an imposingly
large and deep cistern. Its quadrangular roof rests on splendid columns and
arches, and rises about 5 feet above the level of the surrounding flat ground (Fig.
61). From the west of the main court an ascent leads through a decayed interior
wall to a second court forming part of a kind of citadel. Here there is another
great cistern with its vaulted roof supported by four massive square pillars.
The arched niches, over which the roof rises, are connected by a narrow ambu-
latory passage which made it possible to draw water at different places at the
same time. Access to this passage is gained by steps leading down from the
ground outside. The bottom of the cistern lies fully 20 feet below the passage.
The importance attached to the provision of an adequate supply of water is
shown by a third cistern smaller in size but very deep. This is passed on ascend-
ing by a wide flight of stairs to the top of the great circular bastion which com-
mands the south curtain of the circumvallation, and forms a kind of keep. The