PERSIA
976
PERSIA
easterl}' diroction, ramifving into numerous paral- lel cliaiiis, wliicli traverse the west and south of the country, coverinii; it tor a width of from 100 to 330 miles. At its soiitli-eastern extremit}^ this chain joins the Jebel-Ahad, whicli runs eastward through the cen- tre of the jirovince of Kerman, and forms the south- ern boiindar}' of the plateau. The range is generally limestone, and, like all other mountains of the same character, presents many caves and grottos. The province ot" Azerbijan, in the north-west, is almost whoU}" mountainous. On the east side of Azerbijan, a spur of the Caucasus, separated from it, however, by the valley of the Kur and Araxes, runs south- wards at some little distance from and parallel to the shore of tlie Caspian, at the south-west corner of which it becomes more elevated, and as the mnjestic range of the Elburz takes an easterly direction, fol- lowing the line of the Caspian coast at a distance va- rying from 12 to GO miles. On reaching Astrabad it divides into three great parallel ranges of somewhat inferior elevation, which pursue first an east, and then a south-east direction, joining the Faropamisus in Af- ghanistan. IMan}' of tlie hills in the Elburz arc cov- ered with perpetual snow ; and the highest peak. Mount Uemavend, is more than 20,000 feet above the sea. The Persian mountains are mostly of a primitive character ; granite, porphj'ry, feldspar, and mountain limestone enter largel)' into their composition ; thej' also, in great part, exhibit indications of volcanic ac- tion— Demavend itself being evidently- an extinct volcano ; and the destructive earthquakes which are still of frequent occurrence in the north and north-west of Persia indicate the presence of subterranean fires. The Elburz on the north, the Zagros on the west, the Kerman mountains on the south, and Afghanistan on the east, are the boundaries of the Persian plateau, which ranges from 2000 to 5000 feet above sea-level, the lowest portion being the Great Salt Desert, in the north-west of Khorassan, which has 2000 feet of eleva- tion above the sea ; while the average elevation of the whole plateafi al:ovc the sea is about 3700 feet. The lower level, out of whicli the upland rises, is called the Dushtistan, or " Level Country'," and stretches along the coast of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Ormuz, south of the Bakhtiyari and Kerman ranges, and also along the Caspian Sea, between it and the Elburz. The aspect of the plateau, diversified as it is for the most part witii hills and valleys, mountains and plains, is, contrary to wliat might naturally be expected, drearj' and forbidding. The. interior mountains are everywhere bare and arid, unrelieved by trees or shrubs, and present the appearance of huge masses of gray rock i)iled one on the other, or starting in alirupt ridges from the level plain. The plains are equally unattractive; and those which are not deserts consist either of gravel which has been washed down from the mountain slopes or accumulated into deep and extensive lieds during some former revolution of nature, or of a hard, dry clay. To render such a coun- try fertile recpiires the presence of abundant water; but, unfortunaUdy for Persia, nature has been remark- alily sparing in this respect. The whole of the east and centre of the country is entirely destitute of riv- ers ; the countr}^ south of the Kerman mountains is very meagrely supplied, tlie rivers, such as they are, being almost wholly confined to the western and the Caspian provinces.
Almost the whole of Khorassan. the north half of Kerman, tlie east of Irak-Ajcmi, which form the great central plain, and detached portions of all the other provinces, witii the excejition of those on the Caspian Sea, forming more than tliree fourths of the surface of Persia, are desert. In some parts of this waste the surface is dry, and produces a scantj' herbage of saline plants ; in other parts it is covered with salt marshes, or with a dry, hard, salt crust, sometimes of consider- able thickness, which glitters and flashes in the sun-
light, forcing the traveller on these inhospitable wastes to wear a shade to protect his eyes; but b^' far the greater portion of this region consists of sand, some- times so light and impalpable as to be shifted hither and thither bv the slightest breeze. Tiiis great cen- tral desert contains a few oases, but none of great ex- tent. Tlie largest of the salt deserts of Persia is the "Dasht Beyad," commonly known as the Great Salt Desert of Khorassan, which lies in the north-west of that province, and is 400 miles in length by 250 miles in breadth. Some parts of Persia, however, are of ex- ceeding fertilit_v and beautj' ; tlie immense valleys, some of them 100 miles in length, between the various ranges of the Kerman mountains, abound with the rarest and most valuable vegetable productions: great portions of the provinces of Ears, Khuzistan, Ardelan, and Azerbijan have been lavishlj' endowed by nature with the most luxuriant vegetation ; while the Caspian provinces, and the southern slopes of the Elburz, are as beautiful as wood, water, and a fine climate can make them — the mountain-sides being clothed with trees and shrubs, and the plains studded with nature's choicest products.
The climate is necessarily very varied. What the Younger Cj'rus is reported to have said to Xenophon regarding the climate, "that people perish with cold at the one extremity, while they are suffocated with heat at the other," is literally true. Persia may be considered to possess three climates — that of the south- ern Dushtistan, of the elevated plateau, and of the Caspian provinces. In the Dushtistan, the autumnal heats are excessive, those of summer more tolerable, while in winter and spring the climate is delightful. The cold is never intense, and snow seldom falls on the southern slope of the Kerman range. The rains are not heav}-, and occur in winter and spring. The district is extremely healthy. On the plateau, the climate of Ears is temperate, and as we proceed north- wards, the climate improves, attaining its greatest per- fection about Ispahan. Here the winters and sum- mers are equalh' mild, and the regularity of the sea- sons appears remarkable to a stranger. To the north and north-west of this the winters are severe ; and in Kurdistan, the greater part of Azerbijan, and the re- gion of the Elburz, the climate is quite alpine. The desert region of the centre and east, and the country on its border, suffer most oppressive heat during summer and piercing cold in winter. The Caspian provinces, from their general depression below the sea-level, are exposed to a degree of heat in summer almost equal to that of the West Indies, and their winters are mild. Rains, however, are frequent and heavy, and many tracts of low country are marshy and extremely unhealth3\ With the exception of the Caspian provinces, the atmosphere of Persia is re- markable above that of all other countries for its drj'- ness and purity, a fact frequently proved b}' exposing pieces of polished iron to the action of the air, and finding whether or not they rust.