on part of Mazunderan. 579 



and, passing- Aliabad bazaar, we met with nothing but mud and jungle, till we 

 reached the Caspian, 



Along the shore of this sea are innumerable trunks of large trees, half im- 

 bedded in the mud and sand of the beach, and brought down, in time of floods, 

 by the numerous rapid rivers which flow from the richly-wooded ravines of 

 Mazunderan, Ghitan Talish, Carabaugh, &c. If 1 may judge from the num- 

 ber of trees which I saw a single river hurrying down its torrent in the spring- 

 of 1839, the quantity of wood annually carried into the Caspian must be 

 enormous. 



The waters of this inland sea, near the shore, are so fresh, that a horse does 

 not refuse to drink them. The shells on the beach are chiefly fresh-water 

 helices, cockle-shells, &c. 



There is a high and low water- mark on the shore, not the effect of tides, 

 but produced either by the occasional set of winds, or from the basin of the 

 Caspian being fuller at one season than another, in consequence of rains or 

 the snows melting on the surrounding mountains. 



The sea is evidently fast filling up ; and so great is the quantity of mud 

 brought down by the rivers in spring and autumn, that it is easy to trace their 

 discoloured waters five or six miles from the land ; and so shallow is the Cas- 

 pian near the shore, that ships of 120 tons burden, coming to the coast of Ma- 

 zunderan, are obliged to anchor at the distance of two or three leagues. 



Leaving the alluvial plain of Mazunderan, and ascending from Amol, the 

 bedof the river Heraz, the road again enters a ravine in well-wooded moun- 

 tains composed of sandstone strata resting upon limestone. As we proceeded, 

 the limestone was exhibited overlying claystone porphyry. Thence, as far as 

 Karoo, the rocks appeared in the sections in the following order : trap — lime- 

 stone — sandstone — shale and indurated slate-clay — Buhr-stone — then sand- 

 stone, limestone, trap. 



On the tops of some of the hills, there is much loose trap-rock rapidly under- 

 going decomposition. 



At Karoo is a breccia similar to that at Dalee chaee. The bend of the 

 river between Karoo and Bulkulum is in a narrow, deep fissure through a 

 mountain of limestone, with a few strata of coal and sandstone distinguishable 

 on the top of the precipice. 



On this line of road are many ruined bridges, and portions of broken 

 masonry; also remains of roads, now impassable; but, in this narrow fissure, 

 the ruins of a stone bridge were too remarkable not to attract attention. The 

 piers, built on the solid rock of the opposite sides of the river, seemed as if they 

 could never have been intended to support the same arch, so different was 



VOL. V, SECOND SERIES. 4 F 



