THE HUMAN SPECIES. 107 



the south side, close upon the most elevated shores, where vol- 

 canic detonations are still constantly felt. Notwithstanding 

 the quiescent state of the high sandy plateau of Persia, the fre- 

 quency of naphtha springs, some boiling, others in actual fit me, 

 with constant smaller eruptions along the northern coast, and in 

 other parts of the kingdom, attest the presence of numerous 

 ramifications of active fires, once sufficiently powerful to form 

 lofty mountain peaks, whose summits, such as Elburs and 

 Demavend, show by their craters, now extinct or inactive, the 

 vast extent and force of the disturbing agency, — perhaps still 

 better exemplified in the high cones of Ararat, the loftiest of 

 which recently fell in, and proved this mountain to be also of 

 volcanic origin, crumbling in decay. 



SOUTH OF ASIA. 

 Turning our attention to the south coast, at the Persian 

 Gulf, we find the high rocks of Laristan and Mekran border- 

 ing on a deep-water sea, belted with narrow shores, — thus 

 bearing tokens of subsidence ; for though Reesheer, not an 

 ancient place, was abandoned in the seventeenth century, on 

 account of the encroachments of the water, Busheer, built in 

 its stead, is already so low that, during certain winds, the 

 whole town is surrounded by the flood. 



THE INDUS. 

 Beyond Cape Monze (Ras Moaree), the terminal point of 

 the Lukkee mountains, which form the western boundary of 

 the Indus, we have the great delta of that mighty river. From 

 the point where the stream escapes through the high lands, 

 and now pursues a course almost due south, there are abun- 

 dant tokens that originally it flowed nearly south-east, receiv- 

 ing the tributaries of the Punjaub, nearer their sources, and 

 reaching the Indian Ocean as far eastward as the Rhunn and 



