CHAPTER I. CONFIGURATION AND CLIMATE

THERE IS A CERTAIN tawny nudity of the South, bare sunburnt plains, coloured like a lion, and hills clothed only in the blue transparent air.—R. L. Stevenson.

A lamp gives no light in the Sun :

And a lofty minaret looks mean on the slopes of Alvand.

The Gultstan of Sadi.

The Situation of Persia.—Between the valleys of the Indus on the east and of the Tigris on the west rises what is generally termed the Iranian plateau. Persia fills the western and larger portion of this elevated tract, the eastern portion being occupied by Afghanistan and Baluchistan. These countries are surrounded on all sides by gigantic ranges, which are highest on the west and north, and the interior is divided into two chief basins. That on the west, which includes about three-fifths of Persia and is subdivided into many smaller basins, joins the eastern, the basin of Sistan, not very far from the province of that name. This latter area is chiefly drained by the classical Etymander, now termed the Helmand, and by minor rivers most of which, in flood time at any rate, discharge into the hamun or lake of Sistan.

In altitude the plateau exceeds 5000 feet at Kerman, 4000 at Shiraz, and 3000 in the region of the great northern cities of Teheran and Meshed, while Tabriz, in the extreme north-west, exceeds 4000. Of the central cities, Isfahan exceeds 5000 feet, and Yezd 4000. These figures are of interest, for they bring out the contrast between the inhabited part of the plateau and the great desert which occupies the heart of the country and lies considerably lower, although rising almost everywhere above 2000 feet.

Boundaries and Provinces.—In describing the boundaries of Persia I propose also to refer to its chief provinces which almost all lie away from the centre and within reach of the frontiers.

The eastern province of Khorasan is bounded on the north by a series of ranges which rise in stern beauty above the steppes of Turkestan. Some years ago I visited the extraordinary natural fortress of Kalat-i-Nadiri and climbed its northern wall, which is one of the mountains in this range. From the crest I looked across the yellow plain, stretching northwards in level monotony, and was struck by its immensity ; for I rea