'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎532] (595/714)

PERSIA
whilst until the Russian war there were kept here under lock and
key a library of the richest manuscripts and illuminated Korans
the gift of the same monarch, the bulk of which, in spite of the
curses openly invoked upon the spoliator on the title-page of each
volume, were mercilessly swept off by General Paskievitch for the
Imperial Library at St. Petersburg. 1 In the present century
Ardebil has taken the place of Alamut as a State prison • and
hither, upon the suppression of the revolts that had attended the
accession of Mohammed Shah, were despatched the unsuccessful
pretenders, two of whom were uncles of the sovereign.
Not the least remarkable among the natural features of the
mountain system of which Azerbaijan constitutes a part is the
Daria-i- cluster of great lakes which are here encountered at a
Lake'of 1 ver y considerable elevation above the sea. In Russian
Urumiah territory is Lake Gotcha, to the east of Erivan; in
Turkish territory is Lake Van, to the west of Van. But the
largest, to which I now turn, is in Persian territory, and can be
seen from the citadel of Tabriz. This lake is commonly called in
maps and by Europeans Lake Urumiah, from the well-known
city, twelve miles distant from its western shore ; but this name
does not appear to be known to the Persians, who generallv call it
I )aria-i-Shahi, or Royal Sea. It is the Kapauta of Strabo, his version
ot the Persian Icabuda, or blue. The lake is eighty-four miles long,
between twenty and thirty miles broad, has a circumference of nearly
oOO miles, and an elevation of 4,100 feet above the sea. Indented
with bays and inlets, studded particularly in the southern part with
islands, surrounded by wooded shores and hills, with Mount Sehend
rising to a height of 1 1,800 feet from its eastern side, and with
the white cone of Ararat piercing the distant clouds on the north,
this noble sheet of water presents a fine and delightful prospect.
Accounts vary as to its earlier history ; for on the one hand it is
said to have formerly covered a very much larger area, so much so
that the peninsula of Shahi or Shahkuh, which juts forward into it
from the eastern bank, is reported (even as late as by Kinneir) to
tor descriptions of Ardebil, ride Olearius (1637), Ambassador's Travels.
p. .58, &c.; C. Le Brun (1703), 'Travels, p. 170; Morier's Second Journey (1812),
p. 253; Sir J. Sheil (1834), Note C to Lady Sheil's Glimpses of Life, fie.; W. I!.
Hnlines (18 t.i). Sketches on the Caspian Shores, cap. iv. Popular legend derives
the name from two Dirs or Genii, named Ard and Bil, who are said to have assisted
King Solomon in clearing a passage through the mountains here, in order to drain
off the waters of Central Iran into the Caspian.