The deserts of Persia, which are rather saline than sandy, cover nearly three-tenths of the country. The principal of these is the Great. Salt besert, lying between Khorassan and lick• A djum, where the layer or crystallized sea•salt on the surface of the ground lies in several places tai inch in thickness. It joins the Caramanian desert, which lorms the northern part of Kerman ; and these two stretch over an extent of nearly 140,000 square miles. The nitre and other salts with NA hich this vast tract abounds, impregnates the neighbouring rivers and lakes. The Great Sandy DeSel t commences on the banks of the Heir mund, and extends to the range of mountains which di vides the province of Mekran, a distance of nearly 450 miles. Its sand is of a reddish colour, and so light that it is scarcely palpable. When raised by the wind it forms longitudinal waves, which, on the windward side, present a gradual slope from the base, and on the other rise per pendicularly to the height of ten or twenty feet. Arrian tells us, that the army of Alexander, when marching through this desert, was nearly smothered in deep scorch ing sand. The wind, which here commonly blows from the north-west, is termed the bade sumootn, or pestilential wind ; and during the summer months is so heated, as to destroy every thing, either animal or vegetable, with which it comes in contact. In some instances it kills instanta neously ; but, in others, the wretched sufferer lingers for hours, or even days, in the most excruciating torture. The desert of Kara-kum, or the Black Sand, covers part of Kho rassan, and forms the northern boundary of Persia towards Tartary ; and that of Kiab lies on the east of the Tigris, and stretches from thence to the north of Shuster.
Another striking feature in this country is its scarcity of water, which is one of the greatest obstacles to its fer tility. It possesses few rivers of any importance. The Euphrates and Tigris cannot be considered as Persian ; neither can the Kur, which forms its northern boundary towards Georgia ; nor the Gihon, which divides it from Tartary. The river 4ras, the ancient Araxes, rises in the mountains of Caucasus, and, after a long and rapid course, joins the Kur. The Kizd-ozen has its source in the west ern mountains, and, after a very winding course, reaches the Caspian. It is supposed to be the Mardus of the an cients. This river flows in a series of cataracts through picturesque ravines, and falls with such force into the sea, that its current is perceptible a considerable distance from the shore. It abounds in sturgeon, and produces nume rous pike, carp, and other kinds of fish esteemed by the Persians. The Tedzen, the ancient Ochus, waters the province of Khorassan, and, after receiving several small streams from the mountains of Mazenderan, falls into the Caspian. The inland rivers of Persia are in general lost in the deserts. The Zynderood rises in the Baktyar moun tains, and passing by Ispahan expends itself in the deserts of sand to the south-east. The waters of this river are at times so swollen by the melting of the snow and the rains, that they overflow their banks to a great extent. These inundations sometimes cover several districts, and render large tracts of rich and productive land useless for the sea son. The injury done by one of these, in 1809, was cal culated to amount to three lacks of piastres. The Ben demir passes from north to south between Shiraz and Per sepolis, and flows into the salt lake of Baktegan, which also receives another considerable stream called Buren. Be sides these, there are a few small streams which fall into the Persian Gull.
The lakes of this country are very similar to those of Africa, but of greater extent. The lake Shahee, or Oormia, which lies among the mountains of Aderbijan, is inclosed on the north and east by the plain of Tabrcez, the salt de sert, and the hills and valleys of Czkoh; a sublime range of snowy mountains gird it on the west ; and on the south it is terminated by the table land and extensive pastures of Maragha. It is about 280 miles in circumference, and in general very shallow, its greatest depth not being more than live or six feet, and in some places scarcely one. \Vhat is remarkable in this lake is, that it receives four teen rivers of different sizes, without any apparent increase of its waters. Indeed, it would appear that the evapora tion is greater than its supplies, as there are many visible signs of diminution. The Persian rivers, however, in ge neral, depend much upon the mountain torrents. On the one day they are overflowing their banks, and on the other they scarcely deserve the name of rivulets ; consequently the greatest quantity of water in the lake is in the spring, when the snow melts, and the torrents flow the deepest ; and then its surface will sometimes rise about thirty feet. The waters
of the Oormia seem dull, and are extremely saline, yield ing, when evaporated, a bitter salt of a beautiful transpa rency, and one-third more in quantity than sea-water ; and are so prejudicial to fish, that when any are thrown into it by the rivers they immediately die. Lake Erivan lies about 100 miles to the north. It is seventy miles in cir cumference, with a small island in the middle, and abounds in carp and trout. Ten miles south-east of Shiraz is the salt lake Baktegan. During summer it is nearly dry, when the people who inhabit its banks collect the salt with which the bottom is encrusted, which is remarkably fine, and which is in general use throughout the province of Fars.
The climate of Persia exhibits considerable variety ; and the description given of it by the younger Cyrus to Xenophon, " My father's empire is so large, that people perish with cold at the one extremity, while they are suf focated with heat at the other," is equally applicable now as it was then. This arises, however, more from the dif ference of elevation and soil than from difference of lati tude. There are three leading distinctions of region and climate in this country. In the northern provinces, on the shores of the Caspian, an excessive humidity prevails throughout the year. The inhabitants bear indelible marks of its insalubrity, having a feverish sallowness of com plexion, and possessing neither strength nor spirits. Here the winter is very mild, from the temperate winds which blow from the sea ; but during summer the heats are so strong and lasting, that all who are able abandon the towns, and retire to the mountains, where they live in tents, and where the temperature is comparatively- cool. Vegetation is favoured by the long lying of the snow, and a protracted spring ; and the forests are vigorous and extensive. The sides of the hills are covered with acacias, lindens, oaks, and chesnuts ; and their summits are crowned with cedars, cypresses, and pines of various descriptions. The sumach, so useful from its astringent virtue in the arts of dyeing and tanning, grows here in abundance ; and the flowering manna-ash is equally common. The province of Ghilan abounds in boxwood; and the sugar cane is cultivated with some degree of success, and produces tolerable sugar. In the central plateau the summer is excessively hot. The atmosphere, however, is serene, and refreshed by cool breezes during the night. A cloud is scarcely to be seen, and the light of the stars is sufficient to direct the traveller on his way. The winters are equally rigorous. Snow storms are frequent ; and instances have occurred where whole caravans have been overwhelmed by the blast. Dews are unknown in summer, and, during the rest of the year, they are of such a nature that the brightest steel, though exposed to them, would not receive thc slightest rust. In spring the bails are often prejudicial to vegeta tion. It is then and in autumn that high winds generally prevail ; but the air is extremely dry, and thunder and lightning are rarely experienced. Among the mountains of Kurdistan and Aderbijan, however, this general charac ter of the climate is greatly modified ; and they derive, from their great elevation and their forests, a more humid atmosphere, and more equal temperature. The province of Fars also, especially the valley of Shiraz, is exempt from excess of heat or of cold ; the thermometer in the day time seldom rising higher than 80° in summer, or sinking lower than 62' at night. In this region the elevated plains are covered with those species of plants which affect a saline soil ; but some of the open plains, which are free from sand, are covered with fertile pastures. Though the mountains of Fars are stripped of their forests, yet the beautiful walks in the valley of Shiraz are shadowed by planes, medlars, willows, and poplars, among which spring up in great beauty and luxuriance anemonies, jessamines, hypericums, tulips, and ranunculi. Descending southward to the shores of the Persian Gulf, the climate undergoes a very material change. The Sumoom, though not fre quent, sometimes desolates the face of nature. Accord ing to Tavernier, the people of Gombroon, when they find themselves struck by this wind, cry out " I burn," and immediately expire. The extreme heat of the air during four months of the year is almost insupportable, and so very unhealthy, that strangers who fall sick seldom re cover.