After the Báb had been imprisoned for three months in fortress Chihriq, during which time the Bábis flooded the nearby tiny Kurdish community, Prime Minister Aqasi ordered Him to Tabriz to stand trial on charges of heresy. It was July when He was conducted to the town of Urumiyyih, the reputed birthplace of Zoroaster, on the huge salt lake of that name. It was a city slowly recovering from the wounds of the great earthquake of 1840. There He was respectfully welcomed by the Governor, Prince Malik Qasim, who accepted Him in his home as a guest, then took the opportunity to test the powers of this reputed great new Teacher of so commanding a spiritual presence. The Báb's spontaneous winning of a particularly fractious and hostile horse given Him for His ride to the public bath evoked the enthusiasm of all and the conversion of many as His fame spread like wildfire throughout the region. Here, too, the Governor's chief painter, Aqa-Bala Big, rendered His only portrait from life. [The original of the Báb's portrait is now held in the Ihternational Baha'i Archives in Haifa] (David Ruhe, The Robe of Light, p. 98)