'Military report on Tehran and adjacent Provinces of North-West Persia (including the Caspian Littoral)' [‎52r] (108/610)

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4,200'), Tehran (3,800'), beyond which the elevation diminishes
down to the Kavir, salt desert, between 3,000' and 2,000'.
These plains are wide and level between parallel ranges.
Their soil is fertile, but cultivable only where perennial streams
or “ qanats ” from the hills supply water for irrigation. Else
where, at a distance from the hill streams, they are arid wastes,
except during the latter half of April and May, when hills and
plains become green with a thin covering of grass and flowers.
The Kavir, into which they merge, and which absorbs any Kavir.
surplus flood water left in the rivers and not utilized for irriga
tion, consists of salt impregnated desert with a whitish saline
efflorescence on the surface. Its nature varies according to the
amount of water in the soil; in some parts it is fairly firm, in
others it has a very soft yielding surface which makes extremely
heavy going, and in others it is a salt quagmire traversed by
narrow paths known to the local “ charvadars ” (muleteers).
The salt lake of Qum is the largest sheet of water in it, but
“ small pools of brackish water are not uncommon. Sometimes
there are a few tamarisk bushes, but the general aspect of the
Kavir is utter barrenness unbroken by stone or weed.”
The area may accordingly be divided roughly into two most
dissimilar sections, each of which will be described separately :—
Firstly the Elburz mountains which terminate the Persian
plateau and slope down to the Caspian littoral, i.e., the pro
vinces of Mazandaran, Mahal-i-Salas, Gilan, part of Tehran
and Kazvin.
Secondly a portion of the Persian plateau l(’Iraq) forming a
rough triangle with its apex at Hamadan and its base from
Mianeh through Manjil and Kazvin to Tehran.
The deep valleys of the Kizil Uzun and Shahrud also run
near this line.
The provinces included are part of Tehran and Kazvin,
Saveh, Kharagan, Khamseh, part of Hamadan, Garmarud, and
Khalkhal of Azarbaijan.
Description of Elburz range, Talish and Masai eh hills, and Caspian
Provinces.
;i n jan (a ver / This range is divided into the two sections of the Talish
r3 ge elef a ® ; and Masuleh hills, and of the Elburz mountains by the valley
+ ’Iraq is properly the province, of which Sultanabad is the capital, hut it
is used loosely to designate the “ Plateau ” as opposed to the “ jangal ” of
'Gilan and Mazandaran.