': 







I'KRSIA. 



114 



*oth ; and in lnfth it eiieud. through degree* of longitude. The 

 nature of Uiu cl.i'rt varia* La different placet In some the surface ia 

 dry, MM! ero produce* few of thow pUaU which require wit 

 eoU; in othcn w find crackling cnut of earth, covered only with a 

 A cousiJerabl* portiuu i inanity, and in cer- 

 pndumiuato*. In several part* of it rock* rue 

 It in general only to a moderate elevation. ThM 

 rook*, usually hort ri.ige. incloM small ueae* or fertile ipoU whore 

 alrr and h*rfaan an found, and which an inhabited. The largest 

 of tbeee oa*e* fora a .eric, acroes the dewrt between Herat and 

 t~.tv. n extending from the farmer west ward to Tubbu*, from Tubbus 

 southward to Ye*J. and thence wottward to lapaban. The town* 

 of Tubbu* and Tea are situated in the most extensive of theeo oat**. 

 The amall-r oae* touurvwd by the road between theee town* are 

 20 to 30 milea apart 



Krtn OM* dhtt. The Uble-Und of Iran, a* well an the moun- 

 tain rectal* which surround it ou tho north and south, is very sparingly 

 watered. The toathern mountain range* are too bare and also too 

 low to attract eufficirnt moisture to form perennial streams, except m 

 a few place*. The northern mountain* giv rise to a much greater 

 numbrr of watercour**; but as toon u they cuter tha plain, and 

 sometime* before, the small volume of water which they bring down 

 during the greater part of the year i* absorbed in irrigation, anil only 

 a few of tbcee streams reach the desert, where they are lost iu the dry 

 an. I thirsty toil. Only thoae parte of 1'eraia which an included in the 

 plain* of ijhi'au and Maxaudorau, iu the table-laud of Azerbijau, and 

 in the mountain* of Kurdistan, are well watered. The rivers of 

 Uhilon and lUxandcran have a short course, but they are usually 

 natigable for tome mile* from their mouth, where the woods ou their 

 bank* do nut form on impediment. The most considerable river in 

 the table-land of Azvi hij.ui u the Sejid-Rud, or White River, the ancient 

 Amanlu* before mentioned. The whole course of the Send Hud may 

 be about SSO mile*. Ou the table-land the bed is generally many 

 hundred f- 1, and aomrtiuie* a thousand feet, below the adjacent 

 country. Thu* it cannot be uaed for irrigation, and though the banks 

 are le elevated in the plain above the pass of Hud bar, still the waters 

 can nowhere be u*ed to fertilise the country. In Gliilau the curreut 

 i* not rapid, but the river ia not navigated, there being no place of 

 any importance on iu banks, which are very low and nwampy. Two 

 riven, each running about 1UO mile*, fall into the lake of Urumiyeh : 

 the Aji, already noticed, and the Jagbdtu, or Jeghetu. This last ineu- 

 ; river is formed by two head-streams, one of which flows north 

 i lukhau Pass iu the Zogros Mountains, and the other the 

 Saruk, which rite* in the angle between the Kibleh and the Kafilau 

 mountains, and receives numerous feeders from the barren undulating 

 down* that surround the Takhti-Soleiman, the site of the ancient 

 Ecbatana. The Siruk flows near, not on, the boundary of Azerbijau 

 and Fenian Kunlistan. IU course is generally south-west, in a narrow 

 rocky valli-y between high banks, broken at intervals by huge ravines 

 which intersect the country in all directions. From the point of 

 confluence, which U a few miles west of the great ravine of Kara/ten, 

 celebrated for it* caves, the scenes of ancient Mithraie worship, tin; 

 Jaghatu continues among the mountains for about twenty miles to 

 K./ Knpii ; the valley then expands, and at length opens out into the 

 great plain of Mirjaudab, on the south-east of Lake Urumiyeh. This 

 plum i* traversed a little farther west by the Tatau, which flows 

 northward from the great western mountains through the districts of 

 Sardasbt and the Mikri Kurds, and enters the lake near its south- 

 eastern point. In the plains about the hike the rivers named are 

 extensively uaed to irrigate the valleys through which they flow, and 

 also the plain itaelf. The rivers which drain the mountains of 

 Kurdutan and its numerous valleys are not navigable within th 

 mountains, as their course is frequently broken by rapids and cataracts ; 

 and where they i-nUT the plain they aro not navigated, the adjacent 

 ry being nearly uninhabited. Three of these rivers run between 

 200 and 400 mile* : the Uiaydlah, which joins the Tigris below Baghdad; 

 the Kerkhab, which fall* into the Shut el-Arab a few miles below 

 Koruah ; and the Karuu, which pa-sea Shuster, and after receiving 

 the I ij/.t nl Itiver (ancient Coprates) near Ahwaz, flows into the Shat-el- 

 Arab by mean* of an artificial canal called liaffar, and also by a direct 

 mouth into the sea. The Karuu is the ancient Euhcus. Below its 

 junction with the Coprates, it was also called fanligrit. The Karuu 

 U a deep river, easily navigable. Lieutenant Selby ascended it ii few 

 Tears ago in a steamer to Shutter. The Kcrkuah is the ancient 

 Choaipea : at the point of itu nearest approach to the Dizful Hirer 

 an the ruin* of the ancient city of Susa. These rivers ore more fully 

 noticed in the article on the 1'ashalic of BAUIIDAU, where also the 

 course of the Jerahi U traced. 



A* a great part of the soil of Persia is impregnated with tail, the 

 few lake* which occur an salt also, except iu Uhilau and Mozanderan, 

 where then are several small lakes of fresh-water. The most con- 

 siderable of the lake* of Persia i* that of Urumiyeh, or Shahee (called 

 BpauU by Strabo), which i* about 90 miles long and from ZO to 30 

 milrs wide. The greatest depth of tho water ia 4 fathoms, and the 

 .-- depth about 2 fathoms; but the shores shelve sograduilly 

 that this depth is rarely attained within two miles of the laud. The 

 water ia much salter than that of the ocean. It contains no flab, but 

 the smaller classes of xuophytee aro found iu considerable quantity 



The lake receives a great number of rivers, but it has no outlet The 

 mountain region of Fanistan contains the salt lake of BAKIIII 



Cltmale. The climate of the low plain of Qhilan and .V 

 which forms part of the groat depiv-i^inu occupied by the Ca 

 beltered by the Hasan!* and the Elburz mountains from th. 

 wind* of the table-laud, has a temperature resembling that of the 

 ropics, with a dry and rainy season. During the latter a great part of 

 he plain is inundated. The climate of Qurnisir is distinguished by its 

 ;reat heat and dryness, and is therefore the country most suitable to 

 he growth of date-trees, which only bear eatable fruit where these 

 wo circumstances concur. In the interior of the table-land the 

 ilimate U very hot iu summer but cold in winter. In winter a good 

 leal of snow falls. The quantity of snow which falls ou and u.-ar 

 he mountain regions is much greater than that which falls in the 

 lentre of the table-land. Winter lasts ou the table-hind near Teheran 

 ,ill April, during which mouth cold north winds prevail. The tran- 

 sition from cold to heat about the i-nd of April is very rapid. 



Production*. Agriculture is well understood and carefully attended 

 to, as is evident from the means of irrigation employed, and especially 

 roin the subterraneous aqueducts. But extensive tracts, which were 

 brmerly under cultivation, are now a desert, or serve only as pasturo- 

 jiuuiid, owing to the predatory incursions of the neighbouring 

 vandering tribes. In other tracts which are cultivable grain is not 

 aiscd, but they are kept in their natural state as pasture-ground for 

 the lliyats, or wandering tribes who live within the boundaries of 

 the empire. 



llioe, wheat, and barley are the most usual crops, but there are also 

 millet, maize, tel, or sosamuui, dal (a species of vetch), and several 

 [iiids of beans and peas; cotton, indigo, sugar, tobacco, and maddtr 

 are raised in uumy places, but especially in Mazauderan. The fruit- 

 trees are managed with great care and skill, and fruit furni 

 considerable article of internal trade. These fruits comprise dates, 

 apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums, apples, pears, quinces, figs, pome- 

 granates, mulberries, currants, cherries, almonds, walnuts, and 

 pistachio-nuts. The viue plantations are very extensive, though wme 

 is made only in a few places by Christians. Melons are distinguished 

 t>y their size and flavour. Common culinary vegetables .uv grown 

 abundantly. One of the most remarkable vegetable productions of 

 Persia is the plant from which assafcetida is obtained. Opium 1 1. 

 and saffron are extensively cultivated. 



The domestic animals are camels, horses, asses, mules, black cattle, 

 buffaloes, sheep, and goats. The Persian horses are noted for their 

 beauty, strength, and speed. Asses are numerous, and some of them 

 of superior size and description. Mules are used for the tian-jiur; of 

 goods more than any other animals ; they are very strong, mid usually 

 carry about 3 cwt. The black cattle of the plain of Mazaudt.-r.in 

 are distinguished by size and beauty; they have the Indian hump. 

 Sheep are very numerous in all the parts possessed by the nomadic 

 tribes : they are principally of the fat-tailed kind. 



Among the wild animals lions, leopards, chetahs, tiger-cats, lynxes, 

 bears, hyaenas, wolves, jackals, foxes, antelopes, and several sorts of 

 deer are found. The wild ass is found in many of the rocky r. 

 of the country, but particularly iu the deserts of Khorasau and the 

 extensive valleys of Farsistan and Irak Ajemi. Wild boars, porcupine, 

 and hares aro common. Among the most remarkable wild animals 

 are the mountain sheep, and the mountain goat. Among birds, which 

 are not numerous, except in a few places, are pheasants, bustards, par- 

 tridges, desert-partridges, herons, wild ducks, and pelicans. Blackbirds, 

 thrushes, and nightingales are frequently heard iu the underwoods of 

 Ghilan and Mazauderau, and in the thickets of roses which embellish 

 every garden. Fish abounds only in the Persian Gulf and the Caspian 

 Sea. Sturgeons and sterlets in great numbers ascend the small rivers 

 which fall into the Caspian Sea, though not in such shoals as in the 

 Volga. As the Persians themselves are not fond of fish, they have 

 permitted the Russian fishermen to establish themselves near tho 

 mouths of these rivers, where they prepare caviar and isinglass, but 

 the body of the fish is thrown away. Locusts frequently lay waste 

 extensive tracts of country. Bees are common iu many places, and 

 much honey is collected. The silkworm furnishes the principal article 

 of commerce iu the plains of Ghilan and Mazauderau, but it is also 

 reared in the country round the Lake Urumiyeh, and in several 

 other places. 



Iron, lead, copper, antimony, rock-salt, alum, bitumen, and naphtha 

 are mentioned among the mineral productions of Persia. 



Inhabitant. The population of Persia consists of a great number of 

 nations, who speak different languages; but all of them belong to the 

 Caucasian race. It is said that one-fourth of the population consists 

 of nomadic tribes. That portion of the population which has fixed 

 abodes consists chiefly of Persians, Pursues, Armenians, Arabs. The 

 Persians, who are distinguished for the politeness of their manners, 

 constitute the bulk of the population, and are merchants, agricul- 

 turists, and manufacturers. The number of the Parsees is small ; and 

 they appear to be numerous only in the oases of Yezd. Their language 

 differs considerably from that of the Persians; they adhere to the 

 religion of Zoroaster, as it is contained in tho Zend Avesta, and adore 

 fire as the symbol of the divinity. They occupy themselves mostly 

 with agriculture and the raising of fruits. The Armenians live in all 

 the great towns, where they are merchants : they also cultivate the 



