70 7 
PERSIA. 
fritterable beat, whilft others are frozen with cold, at the 
fame time of the year. The air, wherever it is cold, is 
dry; but, where it is extremely hot, it is fometimes moift. 
All along the coaft of the Perfian Gulf, from welt to ealt, 
to the very mouth of the river Indus, the heat for four 
months is fo exceffive, that even thofe who are born in 
the country, unable to bear it, are forced to quit their 
houfes, and retire to the mountains; fo that fuch as 
travel in thefe parts, at that feafon, find none in the vil¬ 
lages but wretched poor creatures left there to watch 
the effeCts of the rich at the expenfe of their own health. 
The eallern provinces of Perfia, from the river Indus to 
the borders of Tartary, are fubjeCt to great heats, though 
not quite fo unwholefome as on the coafts of the Indian 
Ocean and the Perfian Gulf; but in the northern pro¬ 
vinces, on the coaft of the Cafpian Sea, the heat is full 
as great, and, though attended with moifture, as un¬ 
wholefome as on the coaft before mentioned. From Oc¬ 
tober to May there is no country in the world more plea- 
fant than this; but the people carry indelible marks of 
the malign influence of their fummers, looking all of 
them of a faint yellow, and having neither ftrength nor 
fpirits; though, about the end of April, they abandon 
their houfes, and retire to the mountains, which are 
twenty-five or thirty leagues from the fea. But this 
moiftnefs in the air is only in thefe parts; the reft of Per¬ 
fia enjoys a dry air, the Iky being perfectly ferene, and 
hardly lo much as a cloud feen. 
Perlia has juftly been termed the Country of Moun¬ 
tains. Befides thofe which interfeCt the interior in all di¬ 
rections, branches of the Taurus encompafs it on the 
north, weft, and fouth. The Taurus, after traverling 
Armenia and Adherbijan, after uniting on the one hand 
with ramifications of the Caucafus, and forming on the 
other the various ranges of Media, fkirts the louthern 
fhore of the Cafpian Sea, and conftitutes that lofty bar¬ 
rier which feparates Ghilan and Mazanderan from the 
central provinces. MountZagros, which runs parallel to 
thecourfe of the Tigris, ftretches to the ealt of Shufter, 
enters Louriftan, coafts the Perfian Gulf atfome diftance 
from the fea, and terminates beneath its waters below 
Gombroon. A few leagues from Hamadan, the Alwend, 
the ancient Orontes, divides into two branches ; the one, 
running north-eaft, pafles to the weft of Cafbin, and 
unites to the fouth-weft of the Cafpian Sea with the El- 
borz, which is a continuation of the Taurus; the other, 
purfuing a contrary direction, and joining the ramifica¬ 
tions of the Zagros, forms the high-lands of Louriftan 
and Perfia, or the fnow-ccvered mountains inhabited by 
the Bakhtiaree and the Louree tribes. 
From this ciifpofition of the grand features of the 
country refults the variety of temperature. The ftiores of 
the Perfian Gulf, the Kermanfhah, for inftance, are un¬ 
inhabitable in fummer. From the 15th of June to the 
15th of Auguft, the feafon of extreme heat in that coun¬ 
try, blows the malignant Samiel, whofe breath, fwift as 
lightning, is equally deftruCiive. The northern pro¬ 
vinces, Mazanderan and Ghilan, refrelhed by the winds 
that regularly blow' from the Cafpian Sea and arerepelled 
by the mountains, enjoy a temperate climate in winter 
as well as fummer. Here the atmofphere is cooler, and 
the vegetables are fucculent; mountains clothed with 
wood remind the European of the Alps and the Pyren- 
nees; but, as he rifes from thefe low trafts in his progrefs 
to the central platform of Perfia, the wind becomes cold¬ 
er, the produftions of the earth are changed, and he 
would almoft imagine that he was tranfported into fome 
diftant region. Thus the variation of climate depends 
more on the elevation of the foil than the difference of 
latitude; fo that you may pafs in a few hours from the 
climate of Montpellier to that of Siberia. The order of 
the feafons is nearly as follows: From the middle of May 
to the end of September the heat is exceffive along the 
Gulf and the Indian Ocean in the Chufiftan, the deferts 
of Kerman and even in lome parts of the interior, as at 
Vol. XIX. No. 1337.- 
Teheran. The fummers are generally temperate in trafts 
of middling elevation. Mr. Kinnier found the moun¬ 
tains covered with fnow in July 1810; and the cold was 
fo fevere in fome of the valleys between Shiraz and Ifpa- 
han, that two or three blankets were fcarcely fufficient to 
proteCl him from it in the night. The winter, neverthe- 
lefs, generally begins in November, and lafts till March. 
To the north of Shiraz, in the vicinity of Teheran and 
Tabriz, that feafon is very cold, and frequently inter¬ 
rupts for months thecpmmunication between thofe cities 
and their dependencies. From May till September the 
atmofphere is ferene, and cooled by the breezes which blow 
morning and evening. 
The climate of Shiraz, the capital of Perfia Proper, is 
reprefented by a traveller who lately vifited it, as one of 
the molt agreeable in the world, the extremes of heat and 
cold being feldom felt. “ During the fpring of the year 
the face of the country appears uncommonly beautiful. 
The flowers, of which they have a great variety, and of 
the brighteft hues, the fragrant herbs, ftirubs, and plants, 
the role, the fweet bafil, and the myrtle, all here contri¬ 
bute to refrefli and perfume the natural mildnefs of the 
air. The nightingale of the garden (called by the Per- 
fians boolbul hezar daflaan), the goldfinch, and the linnet, 
by their melodious warblings at this delightful feafon of 
the year, ferve to add to the fatisfaClion of the mind, and 
to infpire it with the moft pleafing ideas. The beauties 
of nature are here depicted in their fulleft extent ; the 
natural hiftorian and the botanift would here meet with 
ample fcope for purfuing their favourite inveftigations. 
With fuch advantages, added to the l’aluhrity of the air, 
how can it be wondered at that the inhabitants of Shiraz 
fliould fo confidently afiert the pre-eminence of their own 
city to any other in the world ? or that fuch beauties 
fliould fail of calling forth the poetical exertions of a 
Hafiz, a Sadi, orajami? Their mornings and evenings 
are cool, but the middle of the day is very pleafant. In 
fummer the thermometer feldom rifes above 73 in the 
day-time, and at night it generally finks as low as 62. 
One thing which is moft to be efteemed in this country, 
and renders it preferable to any other part of the world, 
is their nights, which are always clear and bright; and 
the dew, that in moft places is of fo pernicious and dan¬ 
gerous a nature, is not of the lead ill confeqtience here : 
there is none at all in fummer, and in the otherfeafons it 
is of fuch a nature, that, if the brighteft fcimitar fliould 
be expofed to it all the night, it would not receive the 
leaft ruft. Thisdrynels in the air caufes their buildings 
to laft a great while, and is undoubtedly one of the prin¬ 
cipal reafons that the celebrated ruins of Perfepolis have 
endured for fo many ages, and, comparatively fpeaking, 
in fo perfeCI a ftate.” 
As to rivers, except the Araxes, which rifes in the 
mountains of Armenia, and falls into the Kuror Cyrus 
before it reaches the Cafpian Sea, there is not one navi¬ 
gable ftream in this country. The Oxus divides Perlia 
on the north-eaft from Ufbek Tartary. The Indus alfo 
may be reckoned among the rivers of Perlia, as the 
provinces lying to the weft of that river are now in pof- 
feflion of that crown : this river is faid to run a courle 
of more than 1000 miles, and overflows all the low 
grounds in April, May, and June. 
The foil of Perfia is in general ftony, fandy, barren, 
and everywhere fo dry, that, if it be not watered, it pro¬ 
duces nothing, not even grafs ; but, where they can turn 
the water into their plains or valleys, it is not unfruitful; 
and hence the leaft rill is a blefling of heaven ; the final 1- 
eft refervoir for collecting rain-water is a treafure which 
each would ftrive to appropriate to himfeif exclufively, 
did not government regulate the diftribution of its con¬ 
tents. The neceflity for this has occafioned tlie inftitu- 
tion of an office the like of which is not to be found in 
any kingdom whatever. The Meer-aub, or “Prince of 
the Waters,” is an agent appointed by the fupreme power 
to luperintend this diftribution of the water of .the 
8 S rivers 
