Thence it takes five days to Basra (Bassorah) which lies on the river Tigris.  Here there are 10,000 Jews, and among them are scholars and many rich men.  Thence it is two days to the river Samara, which is the commencement of the land of Persia. 1,500 Jews live near the sepulchre of Ezra, the priest, who went forth from Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes and died here.  In front of his sepulchre is a large synagogue.  And at the side thereof the Mohammedans erected a house of prayer out of their great love and veneration for him, and they like the Jews on that account.  And the Mohammedans come hither to pray[151].  Thence it is four days to Khuzistan, which is Elam.  This province is not inhabited in its entirety, for part of it lies waste.  In the midst of its ruins is Shushan (Susa), the capital, the site of the palace of King Ahasuerus.  Here are the remains of a large structure of great antiquity.  The city contains about 7,000 Jews and fourteen synagogues.

[p.74]

In front of one of the synagogues is the sepulchre of Daniel of blessed memory.  The river Tigris divides the city, and the bridge connects the two parts.  On the one side where the Jews dwell is the sepulchre of Daniel.  Here the market-places used to be, containing great stores of merchandise, by which the Jews became enriched.  On the other side of the bridge they were poor, because they had no market-places nor merchants there, only gardens and plantations.  And they became jealous, and said “All this prosperity enjoyed by those on the other side is due to the merits of Daniel the prophet who lies buried there.”  Then the poor people asked those who dwelt on the other side to place the sepulchre of Daniel in their midst, but the others would not comply.  So war prevailed between them for many days, and no one went forth or came in on account of the great strife between them.  At length both parties growing tired of this state of things took a wise view of the matter, and made a compact, namely, that the coffin of Daniel should be taken for one year to the one side and for another year to the other side.  This they did, and both sides became rich.  In the course of time Sinjar Shah-ben-Shah, who ruled over the kingdom of Persia and had forty-five kings subject to his authority, came to this place.

[p.75]

He is called Sultan-al-Fars-al-Khabir in Arabic (the mighty Sovereign of Persia), and it is he who ruled from the river Samara unto the city of Samarkand, and unto the river Gozan and the cities of Media and the mountains of Chafton[152].  He ruled also over Tibet, in the forests whereof one finds the animals from which the musk is obtained[153].  The extent of his Empire is a journey of four months.  When this great Emperor Sinjar, king of Persia, saw that they took the coffin of Daniel from one side of the river to the other, and that a great multitude of Jews, Mohammedans and Gentiles, and many people from the country were crossing the bridge, he asked the