As • great part of the soil of Perrin is impregnated with salt, the few lakes which uccur are salt also, except iu Millen and where there are several small lakes of fresh-water. Tho most eon siderable of the lakes of Panda is that of Urumiyeh, or Shahoe (called thereto, by Strabo), which ie about 90 miles long and from 20 to 3( milea wide. The greatest depth of the water is 4 fathoms, and the aver, go depth about 2 fettle= ; but the shorea shelve so gradually that this depth is rarely attained within two miles of the laud. The water is much miter than that of the ocean. It contains no filth, bus the smaller classes of zoophytes are found in considerable quantity rhe lake receives a great number of rivers, but it has no outlet The nountain region of Fersistan contains the salt lake of BAKUTEGAN.
efierate.—The climate of the low plain of Gillian nod Mazanderan, which forms part of the groat depression occupied by the Caspian, leltered by the Maulsla nud the Elburz mountains from the cold winds of the table-laud, has a temperature resembling that of the tropics, with a dry and rainy season. During the latter a great pmt of l i e plain is inundated. The climate of Gurmair is distinguished by ta ;rest heat and dryness, and is therefore the country most suitable to be growth of date-trees, which only bear eatable fruit where these ,wo eirenmstanees concur. In the interior of the table-land the ilimate is very hot its summer but cold in winter. In winter a good teal of snow fella. The quantity of snow which falls on aud near the mountain regions is much greater than that which falls in the :entre of the tableland. Winter lasts on the tableland near Teheran :ill April, during which mouth cold north winds prevail. The trim 'Rion from cold to heat about the end of April is very rapid.
Productions.—Agriculture is well understood and carefully attended A as is evident from the means of irrigatiou employed, and especially from the subterraneous aqueducts. But extensive tracts, which wore formerly under cultivation, are now a desert, or serve only 8.9 pasture ;round, owing to the predatory incursions of the neighbouring waudering tribes. In other tracts which are cultivable grain is not aised, but they are kept in their natural state as pasture-ground for the lliyats, or wandering tribes who live within the bouudarice of the empire.
Rice, wheat, and barley are the most usual crops, but there are also millet, maize, tel, or gammen; dal (a species of vetch), aud several kinds of beans and peas ; cotton, indigo, sugar, tobacco, and madder are raised in many places, but especially in Mazanderan. The fruit trees aro managed with great care and skill, and fruit furnishes a considerable article of internal trade. These fruits comprise dates,
apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums, apples, pears, quinces, figs, puma granates, mulberries, currants, cherries, almonds, walunte, and pistachio-nuts. The vine plautations are very extensive, though wine is made only in a few places by Christians. Melons aro distinguished by their size aud flavour. Common culinary vegetables are grown abundantly. One of the most remarkable vegetable productions of Persia is the plant from which assafcctida is obtained. Opium poppies and saffron are extensively cultivated.
The domestic animals are camels, horses, asses, mules, black cattle, buffaloes, sheep, and goats. The Persian horses are noted for their beauty, strength, and speed. Asses am numerous, and soma of them of superior size and description. Mules are used for the transport of goods more than any other animals ; they are very strong, and usually carry about 3 cwt. The black cattle of the plain of Mazanderan are distinguished by size and beauty ; they have the Indian hump. Sheep are very numerous in all the parts possessed by the nomadic tribes: they are principally of the fat-tailed kiud.
Among tho wild animala lions, leopards, chetahs, tiger-cats, lynxes, bears, hyaenas, wolves, jackals, foxed, antelopes, and several sorts of deer are found. The wild as is found in many of the rocky recessca of the country, but particularly in the deserts of Khorasau and the extensive valleys of Faraistan and Irak Ajemi. Wild boars, porcupines, and bares aro common. Among the most remarkable wild animals are the mountain sheep, and the mountain goat. Amoug birds, which are not numerous, except in a few places, are pheasants, bustards, par tridges, desert-partridges, herons, wild ducks, and pelicans. Blackbirds, thrushes, and nightingales are frequently heard in the underwoods of Ghilan and Mazauderan, and in the thickets of roses which embellish every garden. Fish abouuds only in the Persian Gulf aud the Caspian Sea. Sturgeons and sterlets in great numbers ascend the small rivers which fall into the Caspian Sea, though not in such shoals as in the Volga. As the Persians themselves are not fond of fish, they have permitted the Russian fiahermen to eatabliah themselves near the mouths of these rivers, whero they prepare caviar and isinglass, but the body of the fish is thrown away. Locuats frequently lay waste exteusive tracts of country. Bees are common iu many placate and much honey is collected. The silkworm furnishes the principal article of commerce in the plains of Charm and Mazauderan, but it is also reared in the country round the Lake Urumiyeh, and its several other places.