350 ME. E. T. atJNTHEE ON THE 



Vegetation. — Perhaps tlie most noticeable feature of the 

 vegetation of the TJrmi plateau is the almost total absence ot 

 indigenous, uncultivated trees. And yet in some parts the- 

 landscape can only be described as thickly wooded. The villages 

 are often completely hidden by trees grown for fruit or fuel. 

 There is no lack of all manner of fruit trees : apples, pears, 

 quinces, apricots, peaches, nectarines flourish in the gardens round 

 the villages ; willows and poplars line all watercourses ; planes, 

 walnuts, and jujubes form avenues along roads ; but all indi- 

 genous trees have long since been cut down. It is not the case 

 that the conditions would be unsuited to the growth of arboreal 

 vegetation, because they are much the same as those prevailing 

 in the oak-forest districts in Turkish Kurdistan. 



By roadsides and in villages the plane {JPlatanus orientalis, L.) 

 is often planted, for the sake of the shade afforded by its spread- 

 ing branches. Here and there a giant has been spared, and has 

 become regarded as a holy tree. Chardin refers to one in a garden 

 near Sbiraz upon the branches of which amulets, i*ags, and other 

 votive ofi"erings were hung. The Eev. S. J. Daltry observed a 

 similarly decorated tree near the sulphur-springs on the hills to 

 the north of the plain of Gavilan. There is an enormous plane 

 in the village of Dekhargan growing over a water-tank, which is 

 reached by some steps descending between the buttresses of the 

 tree. Close by are three ancient Mussulman tombstones rudely 

 carved like the quadrupeds of our Noah's-arks. Beneath the 

 same tree stands a stone bench used as a castor-oil press. It 

 is a pity that more of these magnificent trees are not planted by 

 the present generation, who, although ready enough to gain 

 advantage by the good deeds of their forefathers, are too idle 

 to follow their good example. 



I did not see any specimens of the Oriental plane or of the 

 walnut {Juglans regid) which could unhesitatingly be described 

 as wild or indigenous in the Urmi district. I am therefore 

 inclined to consider that Dr. Eadde's * dictum that all planes and 

 walnuts in the Caucasus have been planted by man, with the 

 possible exception of the walnuts of Gilan, is equally true of the 

 Urmi distinct. I saw a few walnut-trees on the islands of 

 Koyun and Arzu, in the Lake, which might be regarded as 

 indigenous. The largest was a stunted tree of about 15 feet 



* G. Eadde, ' Eeisen an der Persisch-Russischen Grenze,' 1886. 



