where cultivation was
difficult, must be pronounced upon the whole well-watered, considering
their extent and the latitude in which they lay.

The Empire possessed, besides its rivers, a number of important lakes.
Omitting the Caspian and the Aral, which lay upon its borders, there
were contained within the Persian territories the following important
basins: the Urumiyeh, Lake Van, and Lake Goutcha or Sivan in Armenia;
Lakes Touz-Ghieul, Egerdir, Bey-Shehr, Chardak, Soghla, Buldur,
Ghieul-Hissar, Iznik, Abullionte, Maniyas, and many others in Asia
Minor; the Sabakhah, the Bahr-el-Melak, and the Lake of Antioch in
Northern Syria; the Lake of Hems in the Coele-Syrian valley; the
Damascus lakes, the Lake of Merom, the Sea of Tiberias, and the Dead
Sea in Southern Syria and Palestine; Lake Moeris and the Natron lakes in
Egypt; the Bahr-i-Nedjif in Babylonia; Lake Neyriz in Persia Proper;
the Lake of Seistan in the Iranic Desert; and Lake Manchur in the In dus
valley. Several of these have been already described in these
volumes. Of the remainder the most important were the Lake of Van, the
Touz-Ghieul, the great lake of Seistan, and Lake Moeris. These cannot be
dismissed without a brief description.

Lake Van is situated at a very unusual elevation, being more than 5400
feet above the sea level. It is a triangular basin, of which the three
sides front respectively S.S.E., N.N.E., and N.W. by W. The sides
are all irregular, being broken by rocky promontories; but the chief
projection lies to the east of the lake, where a tract is thrown out
which suddenly narrows the expanse from about fifty miles to less than
five. The greatest length of the basin is from N.E. to S.W., where it
extends a distance of eighty miles between Amis and Tadvan; its greatest
width is between Aklat and Van, where it measures across somewhat more
than fifty miles. The scenery which surrounds it is remarkable for
its beauty. The lake is embosomed amid high mountains, picturesque in
outline, and all reaching in places the level of perpetual snow. Its
waters, generally placid, but sometimes lashed into high waves, are
of the deepest blue; while its banks exhibit a succession of orchards,
meadows, and gardens which have scarcely their equals in Asia. The lake
is fed by a number of small streams flowing down from the lofty ridges
which surround it, and, having no outlet, is of course salt, though
far less so than the neighboring lake of Urumiyeh. Gulls a