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ENVIRONS OF TEHERAN. 
This, indeed, has been the reproach of the voluptuary from the satirists 
and moralists of all ages and nations. 
Nothing can be so little attractive as the immediate environs of 
Teheran. Each of the five gates leads out to what the Persians call the 
Sahara^ and what we term the desert; a designation not ill applied to 
the plain of Teheran, for although it is in some places partially culti¬ 
vated, yet as there are neither hedges, dikes, or railings, to mark the 
limits of cultivation, the whole has the appearance of a waste. A tree is 
a scarce object, which is a curious circumstance, when it is known that 
the region of Teheran is only separated by a ridge of mountains from 
one of the most wooded countries in the world, the province of Mazan- 
deran. The roots of the Albors, which form the northern boundary 
of the plain of Teheran, are more embellished by villages, trees, 
and rural scenery, than any of the other vicinities of the city. 
We frequently directed our rides to Rey, because by rambling about 
its ruins we hoped to discover some remain of antiquity which hitherto 
had not been seen. In fact Mr. Gordon discovered a rude sculpture of 
the Shapourian age, which was satisfactory in as much as it established 
the fact, that the present ruins occupy the site of a city which existed 
before Mahomedanism. This sculpture is to be seen on the south side 
