tance of more than a mile or two from the foot of the
hills; but it is thought that anciently the cultivation was extended
considerably further. Ruined cities dispersed throughout the tract
sufficiently indicate its capabilities, and in a few places where much
attention is paid to agriculture the results are such as to imply that
the soil is more than ordinarily productive. The salt desert lies,
however, in most places within ten or fifteen miles of the hills; and
beyond this distance it is obviously impossible that the "Atak" or
"Skirt" should at any time have been inhabited.

It is evident that the entire tract above described must have been at
all times a valuable and much coveted region. Compared with the arid and
inhospitable deserts which adjoin it upon the north and south, Khorasan,
the ancient Parthia and Hyrcania, is a terrestrial Paradise. Parthia,
though scantily wooded, still produces in places the pine, the walnut,
the sycamore, the ash, the poplar, the willow, the vine, the mulberry,
the apricot, and numerous other fruit trees. Saffron, asafoetida, and
the gum ammoniac plant, are indigenous in parts of it. Much of the soil
is suited for the cultivation of wheat, barley, and cotton. The ordinary
return upon wheat and barley is reckoned at ten for one. Game abounds
in the mountains, and fish in the underground water-courses. Among the
mineral treasures of the region may be enumerated copper, lead, iron,
salt, and one of the most exquisite of gems, the turquoise. This gem
does not appear to be mentioned by ancient writers; but it is so easily
obtainable that we can scarcely suppose it was not known from very
ancient times.

The severity of the climate of Parthia is strongly stated by Justin.
According to modern travellers, the winters, though protracted, are
not very inclement, the thermometer rarely sinking below ten or eleven
degrees of Fahrenheit during the nights, and during the daytime rising,
even in December and January, to 40 deg. or 50 deg.. The cold weather, however,
which commences about October, continues till nearly the end of March,
when storms of sleet and hail are common. Much snow falls in the earlier
portion of the winter, and the valleys are scarcely clear of it till
March. On the mountains it remains much longer, and forms the chief
source of supply to the rivers during the spring and the early summer
time. In summer the heat is considerable, more especially in the region
known as the "At