nd cormorants
float upon its surface fish can live in it; and it is not distasteful to
cattle. Set in the expanse of waters are a few small islets, whose vivid
green contrasts well with the deep azure which surrounds them.

The Touz-Ghieul is a basin of a very different character. Situated on
the upland of Phrygia, in lat. 39 deg., long. 33 deg., 30', its elevation is not
more than 2500 feet. Low hills of sandstone and conglomerate encircle
it, but generally at some distance, so that a tract of plain, six or
seven miles in width, intervenes between their base and the shore. The
shape of the lake is an irregular oval, with the greater axis running
nearly due north and south. Its greatest length is estimated at
forty-five miles, its width varies, but is generally from ten to sixteen
miles. At one point, however, nearly opposite to Kodj Hissar, the lake
narrows to a distance of no more than five miles; and here a causeway
has been constructed from shore to shore, which, though ruined, still
affords a dry pathway in the summer. The water of the Touz-Ghieul is
intensely salt, containing at some seasons of the year no less than
thirty-two per cent of saline matter, which is considerably more than
the amount of such matter in the water of the Dead Sea. The surrounding
plain is barren, in places marshy, and often covered with an
incrustation of salt. The whole scene is one of desolation. The acrid
waters support no animal organization; birds shun them; the plain grows
nothing but a few stunted and sapless shrubs. The only signs of life
which greet the traveller are the carts of the natives, which pass him
laden with the salt that is obtained with ease from the saturated water.

The Zerreh or Sea of Seistan--called sometimes the Hamun, or
"expanse"--is situated in the Seistan Desert on the Great Iranic
plateau, and consequently at an elevation of (probably) 3000 feet. It
is formed by the accumulation of the waters brought down by the Helmend,
the Haroot-rud, the river of Khash, the Furrah-rud and other streams,
which flow from the mountains of Afghanistan, with converging courses
to the south-west. It is an extensive basin, composed of two arms, an
eastern and a western. The western arm, which is the larger of the
two, has its greatest length from N.N.E. to S.S.W., and extends in this
direction about ninety miles. Its greatest width is about twenty-five
miles. The eastern arm is rather more than forty miles long, and from
ten t