The most remarkable feature of the country consists in the extraordinary
gorges which pierce the great mountain-chain, and render possible the
establishment of routes across that tremendous barrier. Scarped rocks
rise almost perpendicularly on either side of the mountain-streams,
which descend rapidly with frequent cascades and falls. Along the slight
irregularities of these rocks the roads are carried in zigzags, often
crossing the streams from side to side by bridges of a single arch,
which are thrown over profound chasms where the waters chafe and roar
many hundred feet below.46 [PLATE XXVI.] The roads have for the most
part been artificially cut in the sides of the precipices, which rise
from the streams sometimes to the height of 2000 feet. In order to cross
from the Persian Gulf to the high plateau of Iran, no fewer than three
or four of these kotuls, or strange gorge-passes, have to be traversed
successively. Thus the country towards the edge of the plateau is
peculiarly safe from attack, being defended on the north and east by
vast deserts, and on the south by a mountain-barrier of unusual strength
and difficulty.

[Illustration: PLATE XXVI.]

It is in these regions, which combine facility of defence with
pleasantness of climate, that the principal cities of the district have
at all times been placed. The earliest known capital of the region was
Pasargadae, or Persagadae, as the name is sometimes written, of which
the ruins still exist near Murgab, in lat. 30 deg. 15' long. 53 deg. 17'.
Here is the famous tomb of Cyrus, whereof a description will be given
hereafter; and here are also other interesting remains of the old
Persian architecture. Neither the shape nor the extent of the town can
be traced. The situation was a plain amid mountains, watered by small
streams which found their way to a river of some size (the Pulwar)
flowing at a little distance to the west. [PLATE XXVII Fig. 1.]

[Illustration: PLATE XXVII.]

At the distance of thirty miles from Pasargadae, or of more than forty
by the ordinary road, grew up the second capital, Persepolis, occupying
a more southern position than the primitive seat of power, but still
situated towards the edge of the plateau, having the mountain-barrier
to the south-west and the desert at no great distance to the north-east.
Like its predecessor, Persepolis was situated in a plain, but in a plain
of much larger dimensions and of far greater fertility. The pl