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554 SARACENIC ARClllTECTUEE. Part IIL which should become the principal ornament of his new city. Ker Porter^ says that, being seized with as much zeal for his new Shi-ite faith as his predecessor had been for the Sunnite, his intention was to lodge in this mausoleum the remains of Ali and his son Hossein. This intention, however, was not carried into effect, and we know that his own bones repose alone in their splendid shrine. In general plan the building is an octa- gon, with a small chapel added opposite the entrance, in which the body lies. The front has also been brought out to a square, not only to admit of two staircases in the angles, but also to serve as a backing to the porch which once adorned this side, but which has now entirely disappeared. Internally the dome is 81 ft. in diameter by 150 ft. in height, the octagon being worked into a circle by as elegant a series of brackets 987. Toiiil) Ht Sultaiiieli. .Scale 100 ft. to 1 in. 988. Section of the Tomb of Sultan Khodabendah at Sultanieb. (From Texier's " Armenia et la Perse."') Scale 50 ft. to 1 in. as perhaps ever were employed for this purpose. The form of the dome, too, is singularly graceful and elegant, and much preferable 1 " Travels," vol. i. p. 277.