Djavat. Soon after
this it curves to the south, and enters the Caspian by several mouths in
lat. 39 deg. 10' nearly. The Aras is a considerable stream almost from its
source. At Hassan-Kaleh, less than twenty miles from Erzeroum, where
the river is forded in several branches, the water reaches to the
saddle-girths. At Keupri-Kieui, not much lower, the stream is crossed
by a bridge of seven arches. At the Julfa ferry it is fifty yards wide,
and runs with a strong current. At Megree, thirty miles further down,
its width is eighty yards. In spring and early summer the stream
receives enormous accessions from the spring rains and the melting of
the snows, which produce floods that often cause great damage to the
lands and villages along the valley. Hence the difficulty of maintaining
bridges over the Aras, which was noted as early as the time of Augustus,
and is attested by the ruins of many such structures remaining along its
course. Still, there are at the present day at least three bridges over
the stream--one, which has been already mentioned, at Keupri-Kieui,
another a little above Nakshivan, and the third at Khudoperinski,
a little below Megree. The length of the Aras, including only main
windings, is 500 miles.

The Kizil-Uzen, or (as it is called in the lower part of its course) the
Sefid-Rud, is a stream of less size than the Aras, but more important
to Media, within which lies almost the whole of its basin. It drains a
tract of 180 miles long by 150 broad before bursting through the Elburz
mountain chain, and descending upon the low country which skirts the
Caspian. Rising in Persian Kurdistan almost from the foot of Zagros,
it runs in a meandering course with a general direction of north-east
through that province into the district of Khamseh, where it suddenly
sweeps round and flows in a bold curve at the foot of lofty and
precipitous rocks, first northwest and then north, nearly to Miana, when
it doubles back upon itself, and turning the flank of the Zenjan range
runs with a course nearly south-east to Menjil, after which it resumes
its original direction of north-east, and, rushing down the pass of
Budbar, crosses Ghilan to the Caspian. Though its source is in direct
distance no more than 320 miles from its mouth, its entire length, owing
to its numerous curves and meanders, is estimated at 490 miles. It is a
considerable stream, forded with difficulty, even in the dry season, as
high up as Karagul, and crosse