48 ASIA 



walnut, and other trees. Cereals, especially wheat and 

 maize, are grown with the best results. Cypresses and 

 plane-trees add to the unexpected beauty of the moun- 

 tain oases. In addition, meadows are often found in 

 these remote hollows ; they are sufficient to support 

 the herds of the nomads in their yearly migrations from 

 the winter grazing grounds of the lowland to the summer 

 mountain pastures : but, as a rule, the limestone rock, 

 with its fissures and its stony wastes, is too dry for 

 continuous swards of grass. This mediterranean karst 

 vegetation, concealed on the terraces and in the valleys 

 of the Zagros margin, stops at the Straits of Ormuz. 



Briefly, then, the roughly triangular plateau of Iran 

 defined by the Elburz and Khorassan chains in the north, 

 the Zagros-Mekran-Baluchistan ranges in the south, and 

 the Baluchistan mountains in the east, falls into quite 

 typical regions; the lofty valley of Isfahan-Shiraz, the 

 lower and drier salt depressionsof Khorassan- Afghan is t a 1 1 

 to the north-east, the dry and rocky semi-tropical hilly 

 tract of Baluchistan in the south-east, the karst-like 

 range of the Zagros on the south-west, and the desert 

 coastal shelf of the Persian Gulf. Local names connote 

 some of the distinct types of regional vegetation : thus 

 1 dschaengael ' — whence the name jungle has arisen — 

 clearly designates loose scrub-land and also scattered 

 wood : ' saerhadd ' connotes the elevated summer-pas- 

 tures. 



Agriculture in Persia is necessarily restricted to very 

 few and limited localities, the largest cultivated area 

 being found in the trough of Seistan. The main wealth 

 lies in fruit-trees, many of which are undoubtedly indi- 

 genous. Several plants of economic value are found 

 wild, such as the pomegranate, the fig-tree, and the 

 white mulberry ; the mountain pastures support sheep, 



