436 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



1j a 



O H C3~ 



ni 



. 



CO CO 





<*■ 



<U CO 





^_r 



Q 















43 



< 



!< 



rt 



^ 



rt 



So 



o 



•— ■ -^ 



o 



< 



a; <u 



o 





X oo 



< 



cr p 



" 



i- <u 



t/3 



O ,Q 



D 



a <u 





o 



-• 





q 



a> a; 



C 



2-o 



£ 



' Q -~ 











t/3 



cu . - 





<V 00 







_ 



' — •« 



£h 



^ "£ 



, 



g*a 







< 



oo 





— <u 

















ra ^^ 





bo c ^ 



is S3 



f— i 



O "O <u 



CO 



O 2 Ofi 



psl 



o 3 rf 





eC o ft. 



E 



-h £ a, 



■y 



° >, CO 



— 



T3 *^ 





S 03 r- 





£^ rf 











c 



.5 ^--5 





nS*fc -y 





G ctf S 3 



tc 



= ^.►4 







<u ,_ 



J -1 





t/J 







— 



c 







"ca t3 ° 



J 



<£ 



5= » § 



o 



j£ <u a- 



+2 <u c 



o g-3S 



' <£ c o 



I ill 



- • ^ "5 <u 



~ £.5 O 



a name such as the Cas- 

 pian that allures one. 

 You look at a map and 

 find an irregularly shaped 

 "lost sea" in the unknown 

 wilderness, the beyond, 

 the uncharted main, 

 where your imagination 

 boards pirate junks and 

 sweeps on cyclonic 

 cruises uncurbed. "My," 

 you think, "what a won- 

 derful place that must 

 be !" You get there at 

 last and are amazed to 

 find that it is just flat 

 water, like a sea any- 

 where. But often it is 

 the getting there that is 

 the real joy, and so it 

 was with the Caspian. 



To reach the Caspian 

 we had to cross the El- 

 burz Mountains. In 

 sixty miles the road drops 

 5,000 feet. Through a 

 twisting gorge that a 

 river has cut, you plunge 

 from barren uplands 

 down to impenetrable 

 forest jungle. On the 

 south side of the Elburz 

 there is hardly a sign of 

 unirrigated vegetation, 

 for all the copious rains 

 from the Caspian fall on 

 the northern side of the 

 crest. One of the blights 

 of Persia is that the rain- 

 fall is excessively meager, 

 in the central and south- 

 ern regions being re- 

 ported about 5 to 6 inches 

 annually. But in this belt 

 of malaria-infested rice- 

 fields along the Caspian, 

 in contrast, it is consid- 

 ered a dry year if more 

 than half a dozen days 

 pass without rain. 



The trip to the Caspian 

 was considered danger- 

 ous, as many British had 

 been ambushed in the 

 jungle-lined pass through 

 the Elburz. We got 



