'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.' [‎79] (126/905)

CHAP. IV. J GENERAL ASPECT OF THE COUNTRl.
79
commences northward of the city of Kirman, from whence it Great central
branches eastward till it joins that of Seistan, and westward desert "
till it unites with the preceding desert; so that, with the
exception of the oases preserved by industry about the towns
and villages, the desert extends upwards of 500 miles from
west to east, and more than 300 miles from north to south.
The soil is composed of hard clay mixed with dark gravel,
or, which is more generally the case, it consists entirely of
the former substance, in that exceedingly indurated state,
which is, in all tropical climates, the natural consequence of
the continued absence of water. Even where it is cultivated,
the latter character prevails largely, till that period of the
year at which the clay, or in some cases the clay mixed with
gravel, is, by means of irrigation, brought from a state of
barrenness to one of the utmost fertility.
In a country deprived both of wood and water, consisting
of wide-spreading plains, terminating with brown, irregular,
rocky ridges, looking like the ruins of gigantic walls, and in
which, moreover, the verdure of pasturage is confined to a .
brief period of the spring, there can be but little to diversify
the scenery. A dreary, monotonous, reddish-brown colour Monotonous
is presented by everything in Iran; including equally the ^ n C try f the
mountains, plains, fields, rocks, animals, and reptiles. For
even in the more favoured districts, the fields which have
yielded an abundant crop are so parched and burnt before
midsummer, that if it were not for the heaps of corn in
the villages near them, a passing stranger might conclude
that a harvest was unknown in that apparently barren
region. '
The extremes of climate usually found in a territory com- Different kinds
prehending many degrees of latitude are greatly modified by of climate -
the immense extent of the steppes, which produce a consider
able uniformity of temperature. The surface of Iran may,
however, be considered as enjoying four kinds of climate ;
viz., the warm, the humid, the temperate, and the cold. A
dry heat, exceeding that which is experienced in the West
Indies, or even in Gibraltar during the height of summer,
almost always prevails in the greatest part of 'Irak Arabia,