; 
q 
3 
7 
: 
4 
‘ 
On the Meteorology of Oroomiah. 255 
In five hundred grains. Grains 
Chlorid of calcium, - - - > - 0°74 
Chlorid of manganese, = - - - 
Chlorid of sodi - : - - 9058 
102°75* 
In the water of this lake it is impossible for a man to sink, the 
specific gravity being 1:155, and those who bathe in it come out 
encrusted with salt. In the summer, its shores are also fringed 
with a broad, white margin of salt, produced by evaporation. 
The lake exerts of course a marked influence on the climate of 
wind from the lofty mountains of Koordistan, which rise some 
forty miles west of the lake, to the height of 10 or 12 or perhaps 
13 thousand feet above the ocean, and generally retain on their 
summits, even in summer, deep masses of snow. The amount of 
‘watery vapor is thus probably much greater in Oroomiah than in 
many parts of Persia, which present almost the barrenness of the 
Arabian deserts. 
It should be mentioned in this connection that all the moun- 
tains in Northern Persia are destitute of trees, and many of them 
rise to a great height in naked rocky summits. Indeed, in the 
valleys and on the plains, it is rare to find any trees, except those 
planted by the hand of man, and a stranger, as he looks down on 
the luxuriant plain of Oroomiah, can hardly be made to believe 
that the millions of trees before him are entirely an artificial 
* See an article in the Transactions of the Association of American Geologists 
and Naturalists, 
I 
