SHUSTER, a city of Persia, and capital of the province of Khuzistan. It is situated at the foot of the Backtiari range of mountains, and on an eminence which commands a view of the rapid course of the Ramon, which is here crossed by a bridge, of an arch 80 feet high. The Persians are said to throw them selves with impunity from the summit of this bridge into the river. The river defends the town on the west, and on the east a decayed old wall performs this function: the streets are narrow and dirty, but the houses are principally built of stone, and many of them are good. The castle is situated on a small hill to the west of the town. It is defended on two sides by a ditch almost filled up with sand, and on the other two sides by a branch of the Karoon. It has one gateway, which was formerly entered by a draw bridge. The hill on which it stands is almost wholly excavated, and formed into subterrancous aqueducts, through which the water still continues to flow. In the vicinity of the castle, is the dyke which Sapor built across the Karoon, in order to irrigate the ad jacent lands.
It consists of hewn stone, bound together with clamps of iron, and is about 20 feet broad, and 400 yards long, with two small arches in the middle. Ma hornet Ali Meerza, governor of Kermanshaw, has lately rebuilt it, with great advantage to the country. The artificial canal of water, obtained by means of the dyke, falls, after a long winding course, into the Dezphoul, near Bundekeel. There is near the canal, a bridge built of hewn stone, consisting of 32 arches, of which 28 are entire. There is in this city a con siderable manufacture of woollen stuffs, which are sent to Bassirah, and there exchanged for Indian goods. This city is resorted to by invalids for its salubrity. In summer, the heats are so excessive from 9 A. M. till 9 P. an. that the inhabitants spend the day in subterraneous apartments, and pass the night on the flat roofs of their houses. The population. Wilk]] amounts to 15,000, is composed of Arabians and Persians. East Long. 48° 59' North Lat. 32°. See Macdonald Kinneir's Memoir of the Persian Em pire, p. 97.