iana, but falling very
much short of that region in all the qualities which constitute physical
excellence. The soil is poor, consisting of alternate sand and clay--it
is ill-watered, the entire tract possessing scarcely a single stream
worthy of the name of river--and, lying only just without the northern
Tropic, the district is by its very situation among the hottest of
western Asia. It forms, however, no very large portion of the ancient
Persia, being in general a mere strip of land, from ten to fifty
miles wide, and thus not constituting more than an eighth part of the
territory in question.

The remaining seven eighths belong to the serdsir, or "cold region."
The mountain-range which under various names skirts on the east the
Mesopotamian lowland, separating off that depressed and generally
fertile region from the bare high plateau of Iran, and running
continuously in a direction parallel to the course of the Mesopotamian
streams--i.e. from the north-west to the south-east--changes its course
as it approaches the sea, sweeping gradually round between long. 50 deg. and
55 deg., and becoming parallel to the coast-line, while at the same time it
broadens out, till it covers a space of nearly three degrees, or above
two hundred miles. Along the high tract thus created lay the bulk of
the ancient Persia, consisting of alternate mountain, plain, and narrow
valley, curiously intermixed, and as yet very incompletely mapped. This
region is of varied character. In places richly, fertile, picturesque,
and romantic almost beyond imagination, with lovely wooded dells, green
mountain-sides, and broad plains suited for the production of almost any
crops, it has yet on the whole a predominant character of sterility and
barrenness, especially towards its more northern and eastern portions.
The supply of water is everywhere scanty. Scarcely any of the streams
are strong enough to reach the sea. After short courses they are
either absorbed by the sand or end in small salt lakes, from which
the superfluous water is evaporated. Much of the country is absolutely
without streams, and would be uninhabitable were it not for the
_kanats_, or _karizes_, subterranean channels of spring-water, described
at length in a former volume.

The only rivers of the district which deserve any attention are the Tab
(or Oroatis), whereof a description has been already given, the Kur or
Bendamir (called anciently Araxes), with its tributary, the Pulwar (o