NATURE 



345 



THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 1876 



EASTERN PERSIA 

 Eastern Persia. An Account of the Journeys of the 

 Persian Boundary Commission. Published by the 

 Authority of the Government of India. Two vols. 

 (London: Macmillan and Co., 1876.) 



IN the year 1837 a Treaty was concluded at Paris 

 between the English and Persian Governments, 

 under the provision of one of the articles of which it was 

 arranged that the Shah should " refer for adjustment to 

 the friendly offices of England" any differences that 

 might occur " between Persia and Herat or Afghanistan." 



During his Indian viceroyalty one of the questions 

 which attracted the serious attention of Lord Mayo was 

 that of the relations of Sistan, a province on the eastern 

 frontier of Persia, which, though at the time properly 

 belonging to Afghanistan, was being gradually encroached 

 upon by its western neighbours. Both Governments ap- 

 pealed to England, and to settle the question at issue — 

 the boundary-line — an arbitrator was appointed in the 

 person of Sir Frederic J. (then Colonel) Goldsmid, who 

 was at the time Director-in-Chief of the Government 

 section of the Indo-European Telegraph. His instruc- 

 tions were, after he had decided the Sistan boundary, to 

 proceed to Baluchistan and also settle the disputed fron- 

 tier between that country and Persia, a point of special 

 interest to ourselves, as it affects the facility of retaining 

 in an efficient condition the telegraphic communication 

 through Persian territory. Though this was the plan 

 originally proposed, unexpected difficulties were the cause 

 of its being considerably modified ; the result was, how- 

 ever, the same in the long run. 



Sir F. Goldsmid left this country on his special mission 

 at the end of August, 1870, and had finally returned from 

 it in the middle of September, 1872. He was accom- 

 panied by Major Euan Smith, his secretary, who, in the 

 work under consideration, gives a most interesting and 

 detailed account of both the Perso-Baluch Frontier Mis- 

 sion which was undertaken in 1870-71, and of the Perso- 

 Afghan Mission of 1871-72. 



The Introduction to the whole work is by Sir F. Gold- 

 smid. In it the author briefly, but clearly, explains our 

 relations with Baluchistan and Afghanistan, the internal 

 government (or lack of government) in those countries, 

 and the most important events of recent date in their his- 

 tory which bear upon, together with the steps which have 

 been taken by this country to assist in, their consolidation. 



Majors Oliver St. John and Lovett, of the Royal Engi- 

 neers, and Major Euan Smith, of the Madras Army, are 

 the authors of the first volume of the work. Major St. 

 John, who had previously been employed in the Telegraph 

 Department at Tehran, has a valuable chapter upon the 

 Physical Geography of Persia, followed by an account of 

 his journey with Mr. Blanford through Baluchistan and 

 Southern Persia, undertaken with the object of further 

 investigating the topography of the district through which 

 Sir F. Goldsmid had been compelled from various reasons 

 to fix the Perso-Baluch boundary rather precipitately. 

 Major St, John gives three maps of Persia in association 

 with his valuable account of the nature of the country — 

 the first hydrographical, the second orographical, and the 

 Vou XIV.— No. 356 



last showing the routes of the different members of the 

 mission. 



Major Beresford Lovett, who accompanied the Arbi- 

 trator during both his missions, and performed the pre- 

 liminary survey of the Makran region, gives a narrative 

 of his journey in Baluchistan, laying special stress on 

 those places not referred to by Major St. John. 



Major C. B. Euan Smith, as above mentioned, describes 

 the journeys performed by Sir F. Goldsmid and himself, 

 undertaken with the object of deciding the Perso-Baluch 

 and Perso-Afghan boundaries. His narrative possesses 

 all the interest which is inherent in the accounts of the 

 habits and customs of people not well known by most 

 of us, as told by an able and observant traveller. 



The second volume is devoted to Mr. Blanford's 

 account of the zoology and geology of Persia. Mr. 

 Blanford's great experience as a field naturalist both in 

 India and Abyssinia enabled him to undertake the study 

 of the fauna of Persia with a feeling of confidence that 

 he would do justice to the subject which few others could 

 have possessed, and we are sure that all who carefully 

 peruse the work before us will fully appreciate the advan- 

 tages which have accrued to biological science from his 

 efforts. Besides his own collection, Mr. Blanford has had 

 the opportunity of studying that made by Major St. John 

 between the years 1869-71, whilst he was employed in 

 superintending the construction of the telegraph line 

 through Persia. 



To the information given us by Gmelin, Pallas, De 

 Filippi, and others on the fauna of Persia, Mr. Blanford 

 greatly adds. His brief re'sum^ of the physical geography 

 of the country, fully described by Major St. John in the 

 first volume of the book, gives an excellent idea of the 

 region. " The country consists of a number of desert plains 

 at various elevations of from about 1,000 to 5,000 feet 

 above the sea, separated from each other, from the lower 

 country to the east, north, and west, and from the coast to 

 the south, by ranges of mountains varying much in 

 height and breadth, but often of considerable elevation. 

 The Persian plateaux, or highlands, consist of plains and 

 ranges of hills, for the most part destitute of vegetation, 

 agriculture being only possible where water can be obtained 

 from springs or the small streams which descend from 

 the higher ranges to lose themselves in the various 

 deserts of the interior. Along the southern coast of 

 the Caspian Sea is a damp region covered with dense 

 forest, and the western slopes of the Zagros Mountains 

 are also wooded, though less thickly, than the northern 

 slopes of the Elburz. The Zagros belt of wood- 

 land extends south to the neighbourhood of Shiraz, 

 where, from the prevalence of a species of oak, the tract 

 is often spoken of as the Oak Forest. This tract is crossed 

 on the road from Shiraz to Bushire, but it does not extend 

 much farther to the south-east. There are, however, in 

 the broken country, extending along the shores of the 

 Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean, and forming part of 

 Fars, Laristan, and Baluchistan, a i^w plains and valleys 

 which support a rather thin forest, the trees being different 

 from those of the Zagros and Shiraz forests, and consisting 

 chiefly of tropical forms, among which tamarisk and 

 mimosa are conspicuous. These comparatively fertile 

 tracts are however seldom met with, the greater part of 

 the country being as barren as the Persian highlands." 



