Note 438 — Chapter I · (continued 2)

رسن, rasan is a linear measure, the exact value of which could not be ascertained. According to common belief of the Muhammedans, this bridge appears of different shapes; to the good, a straight and pleasant road of thirty-seven fathoms in breadth; but to the wicked it is like the edge of a sword, on which they totter and fall into the abyss below. According to the translation of Pope (p. 11), when Ardai Viráf found himself close to the bridge, it appeared to him to be a broad and good road.—A. T.