'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎77] (124/905)

CHAP. IV.] RIVERS, VALLEYS, AND LAKES.
77
and villages of Iran by means of Kanats, yet comparatively Minor rivers
little appears above tlie surface, and of this a considerable of I ' rin '
proportion is salt, or at least brackish. The valleys of the
Oxus, the Indus, and nearly the whole of that of the
Euphrates, being at the extremities of Iran, that territory
(in addition to the Tigris and Araxes, with their tributaries)
has only the advantage of the Salyan, the Aji, Jeghetu, 1 and
Sefid Riid, towards the north; the Zenderud, Indian, and
Bendimir, in the centre; the Helmand with its tributary,
and the Farr-ar-rud, more eastward. Besides these, there
are some inferior streams, which are, after a short course,
either lost by absorption, or become saline. Extensive salt
lakes and streams, impregnated with the same substance, are
by no means uncommon; amongst the former may be men
tioned the Caspian Sea, the picturesque Urumiyah, 2 and Van,
Zerrah, or Durrah, in Seistan, Baktegan in Fars, and others;
the fresh-water lakes are only met with in the tracts below
Babylon, and again between the Elburz range and the shores
of the Caspian. The surface of Iran may, in a general way,
be described as consisting of a wide-spreading plateau, flanked
by mountainous countries on the east and west, 3 and bounded
to the north and south by the two mountain chains already Form of its
described, outside of which are two extensive plains, on a 8urface -
much lower level. Of these, Turcomania, with the con
tinuous plain westward of it, between the Caspian Sea and
the Elburz mountains, form that which is on the northern
extremity; Arabian 'Irak and Khuzistan, with the rest of the
level tract outside the Zagros, form the plain at the southern
extremity.
Of the higher table-lands, filling up the space inside of
the great chains, only a small portion is at present cultivated;
and, from the number of ruined cities, villages, and Kanats,
it is manifest that desert tracts have increased very much
during the two last centuries. The gradual diminution of
fixed inhabitants, who might irrigate and cultivate the
1 Falling into lake Urumiyah.
8 Or Shdhi and Mardghah, Spauta of Strabo, p. 360, ed. Casaub. 1587.
3 AffgMnistan and Azerbaijan, &c.