abited by a multitude of
warlike tribes, and has rarely formed for any long period a portion
of any settled monarchy. Full of torrents, of deep ravines, or rocky
summits, abrupt and almost inaccessible; containing but few passes, and
those narrow and easily defensible; secure, moreover, owing to the rigor
of its climate, from hostile invasion during more than half the year;
it has defied all attempts to effect its permanent subjugation, whether
made by Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Parthians, or Turks, and remains
to this day as independent of the great powers in its neighborhood as it
was when the Assyrian armies first penetrated its recesses. Nature seems
to have constructed it to be a nursery of hardy and vigorous men, a
stumbling-block to conquerors, a thorn in the side of every powerful
empire which arises in this part of the great eastern continent.

The northern mountain country--known to modern geographers as Eiburz--is
a tract of far less importance. It is not composed, like Zagros, of
a number of parallel chains, but consists of a single lofty ridge,
furrowed by ravines and valleys, from which spurs are thrown
out, running in general at right angles to its axis. Its width is
comparatively slight; and instead of giving birth to numerous large
rivers, it forms only a small number of insignificant streams, often dry
in summer, which have short courses, being soon absorbed either by the
Caspian or the Desert. Its most striking feature is the snowy peak of
Demavend, which impends over Teheran, and appears to be the highest
summit in the part of Asia west of the Himalayas.

The elevated plateau which stretches from the foot of those two mountain
regions to the south and east is, for the most part, a flat sandy
desert, incapable of sustaining more than a sparse and scanty
population. The northern and western portions are, however, less arid
than the east and south, being watered to some distance by the streams
that descend from Zagros and Elburz, and deriving fertility also from
the spring rains. Some of the rivers which flow from Zagros on this side
are large and strong. One, the Kizil-Uzen, reaches the Caspian. Another,
the Zenderud, fertilizes a large district near Isfahan. A third, the
Bendamir, flows by Persepolis and terminates in a sheet of water of
some size--lake Bakhtigan. A tract thus intervenes between the mountain
regions and the desert which, though it cannot be called fertile, is
fairly productive, and