Book I. AGRICULTURE IN ASIA. J 43 



masonry. This mode of procuring water is common to the whole of Persia, and has the 

 great defect of being easily destroyed by an enemy. (Moriers Second Jouriiey, 164.) 



864. The forests of Persia are few, and chiefly in the mountains of Mazanderam and 

 Ghilan, and those towards Kurdistan. The trees are several kinds of pines, the cedar and 

 cypress, limes, oaks, acacias, and chestnuts ; the sumach is also abundant, and used for 

 tanning ; manna is also procured from the fraxinus ornus. Very little fuel, and not 

 much timber is used in Persia ; in the castles and principal houses, arches are employed 

 instead of timber floors. 



SuBSECT. 3. Present State of Agriculture in Independent Tatary. 



865. The extent of Indejiendent Tatary can hardly be considered as well defined ; 

 but Pinkerton measures it from the Caspian sea on the west to the mountains of Belus 

 on the east, a space of 870 miles ; and from th mountains of Gaur to the Russian boun- 

 daries on the north of the desert of Issim, a distance of 1500 miles. It is occupied by 

 the Bucharian, Tungusian, Kirgusian, and other Tatar hordes, and is a celebrated and 

 interesting country, as being the probable seat of the most ancient Persian kingdoms, 

 and as having given birth to Zoroaster and other names eminent in oriental literature. 

 Modern travellers represent the more civilized of tliis nation as indolent, but good- 

 natured. They are easily recognised among other va- ^ 129 

 rietiesof man {fg. 129.) 



866. The climate of this extensive country appears to 

 be excellent, the heat even of the southern provinces 

 being tempered by the high mountains capped with per- 

 petual snow; and though situated in the parallel of| 

 Spain, Greece, and Asiatic Turkey, the proximity of 

 the Siberian deserts and the lofty alps render the sum- 

 mer more temperate. 



867. The surface of the country presents a great 

 variety ; and there are numerous rivers, hills, and moun- 

 tains. 



868. The soil near the rivers is very productive, so that the grass exceeds tlie height of 

 a man. In any other hands but those of the Tatars, this country might rival any Euro- 

 pean region. 



869. All that is known of the tillage of the Tatars, is, that rice and other grains are cul- 

 , livated near the towns ; but that the great dependence of the people is upon their flocks 



and herds. Bucharia is the richest country, both in corn and cattle. There they have 

 horses, camels, oxen, sheep, and goats, which some individuals reckon by thousands, and 

 make large sales, especially of horses, to the Persians and Turks, They have also drome- 

 daries, which furnish a considerable quantity of woolly hair, which they clip off periodically 

 and sell to the Russians. The lambskins are celebrated, being damasked as it were by 

 clothing the little animal in coarse linen ; but the wool of the sheep is coarse, and only 

 used in domestic consumption for felts and thick cloths. The steppes, which are of im- 

 mense extent, supply them with objects of the chace, 130 

 wolves, foxes, badgers, antelopes, ermines, weasels, mar 

 , mots, &c. In the southern and eastern mountains are 

 found wild sheep {Oids musimon), the ox of Thibet (Bos 

 grunniens, fig. 130.J, which seems to delight in snowy, 

 alps ; with chamois, tigers, and wild asses. There! 

 seems throughout the whole of Tatary to be a defi- 

 ciency of wood ; and tlie botany of this immense region^ 

 is as little known as its agriculture. 



SuBSECT. 4. Present State of Agriculture in Arabia. 



870. The extent of Arabia is somewhat greater than that of Independent Tatary. The 

 climate is hot, but there-is a regular rainy season, from the middle of June to the end of 

 September, in some mountainous districts, and from November till February in others. 

 The remaining months are perfectly dry ; so that the year in Arabia consists only of two 

 seasons, the dry and the rainy. In the plains, rain is sometimes unknown for a whole 

 year. It sometimes freezes in the mountains, while the thermometer is at 86^ in the 

 plains, and hence at a small distance are found fruits and animals which might indicate 

 remote countries. 



871. The general suiface presents a central desert of great extent, with a few fertile 

 oases or isles, and some ridges of mountains, chiefly barren and unwooded. The flor- 

 ishing provinces, are those situated on the shores of the Red and Persian seas, the interior 

 of the country being sterile for want of rivers, lakes, and perennial streams. The soil is 

 in general sandy, and in the deserts is blown about by the winds. 



872. The agricultural products are Wheat, maize, doura, or millet, barley, beans, lentiles. 



