354 Prof. Dewey on Caricography. 
of the salt, used in Eastern Koordistan, however, is carried from 
the lake of Oroomiah, ‘the saltest water in the world, on the 
shore of which it is found in great abundance. Porter says of 
the lake, as seen from the hills on the east, that ‘its waters now 
appeared of the deepest blue, and most singularly hemmed in by 
a broad belt of salt, looking at a distance like a violent surf.’ ‘In 
many places it lies more than a foot thick, and where the bed of 
the lake slopes gently from the land, the salt left by evaporation 
in summer often exceeds a breadth of three or four miles down to 
the verge of the waves.’ ‘ Rock salt is found in some localities 
in this vicinity, and is a very good article.’ ”* 
After these mineralogical notices, Dr. Wright mentions some 
Remarkable Ruins.—“ We found in great numbers, seattere 
over the country, a mysterious species of ruins, which puzzled us 
extremely in endeavoring to satisfy our minds as to their history. 
They consisted of collections of stones, many of them very large, 
hich were once built up in the form of a regular structure, 
usually oblong. We heard of some still standing, built up some 
ten or fifteen feet high, without door, window or roof. The 
Koords have the idea, as we learned upon inquiry, that they are 
the work of Dervs,t whom they regard as spiritual beings, who 
were engaged in a war with the human race, and who built these 
structures for their strongholds in the conflict. My companion, 
Mr. Breath, conjectures they may be the remains of the works of 
the F'ire Worshippers, who formerly occupied these parts, though it 
is difficult to imagine what object they could have had in con- 
structing them. On the plain of Oroomiah, there are numerous 
remains, which it is altogether probable are the relics of the an- 
eient Fire Worshippers. ‘The indications of their character are 
much more obvious than those of the mountains.” 
—— 
Arr. XXXV.—Caricography ; by Prof. C. Dewey, M. D. 
(Appendix, continued from this volume, p. 173.) 
No. 209. C. orylepis, Torrey. Mon. N. Am. Cyp., p. 409. 
icis 4-6 i ifloris erectis exserté pedun- 
culatis, inferioribus subremotis basi distantifloris, superiore inferne 
staminiferis ; fructibus ¢ristigmaticis oblongis utrinque acuus sub- 
triquetris glabris ore vix bilobatis, squama ovata oblonga margine 
hyalina cuspidata paulo longioribus ; culmis inferne foliatis. 
Spicis 4—6 longo-cylind blaxifl 
LU 
*V. Am. Jour., vol. xxxvii, p. 350, et seq. ‘ ‘ 
t Sir R..K. Porter, in his Travels.in Persia, describes a mound with mung’ 
marble structures upon it, in the plain of Morgaub, near Persepolis, called abe. 
nurt of the Deevs, or Devils,” and in many places the temples of the Fire 2 
