This pro

III. EASTERN PROVINCES.

S. Talents.

S. Talents. and the gold sands of the river Pactolus. The Armenia of Herodotus extended The riches of Cræsus were proverbial.

westward to the Euphrates, and southward 3. On the east side of the Hellespont, the to Mount Masius in Mesopotamia, includPhrygians and the Thracians of Asia, the ing the sources of the Euphrates northwards, Paphlagonians, Maryandinians,* and Syri- and Mount Ararat eastwards. ans or Cappadocians

360 vince, though mountainous, abounded in 4. The Cilicians

500 mines of gold and silver, copper and iron, These four provinces composed the whole at Argana and Kebban, which will account of Asia Minor.

for its high tribute. 5. Phenicia, the Syrian Palestine, and the 13. [19.] The Moschi, Tibareni, Maisle of Cyprus; from the city of Posidæum, crones, Mosynæci, and Mardians

300 on the frontiers of Cilicia and Syria, as far This satrapy is a narrow strip of land, as Mount Casius and the Sirbonic Lake, between the Armenian mountains of Caubordering on Egypt

350 casus and the Euxine Sea. It abounds in 6. Egypt, and the Africans, bordering on iron mines. Egypt, as far as Cyrene and Barcæ

700 This tribute was exclusive of the produce of the fishery of the lake Mæris, amounting 14. The Sangartians, Sarangæans, (of to 240 talents per annum, which was a per

Sigistan,) the Thamanæans, Utians, and quisite to the queen of Persia, says Diodo

Mencians, (of Carmania,) with the islands rus, for dress and perfumes ; and also of 700

of the Red Sea, or Persian Gulf, to which talents, for the value of Egyptian corn, to

the king banished state offenders

600 supply 120,000 Persian and auxiliary

The intermediate country of Persia protroops, in garrison at Memphis, etc.

per, whose principal tribes were the Arteatæ, 7. [9.+] Babylon, including Assyria Pro, per, and Mesopotamia.

Persæ, Pasagardæ, Maraphii, and Mas.1000

pians, were not compelled to pay any speThis was one of the most extensive, as it

cific taxes, but only presented a regular grawas the richest of the provinces of the em

tuity. pire. Before the time of Cyrus, it was reckoned, in point of revenue, equal to the

15. [16.] The Parthians, Chorasmians, Sogdians, and Arians .

300 third part of Asia.

These occupied the mountainous tract 8. Susa, and Susiana, or Chusistan . 300

between Hyrcania, Margiana, Asia, and the Next to the Lydian satrapy, this was the

desert of Chorasmia. smallest of the whole ; but it contained

16. [7.] The Sattagydians, the Gandarii, Susa, at that time the capital of the empire,

Dadicæ, and Assarytæ of Margiana

170 where the king's treasures were deposited.

17. [12.] The Bactrians, as far as Aglos 360

Or from Balk to Khilan or Ghilan.
II. CENTRAL PROVINCES.

18. [15.] The Sacæ and Caspii, (or, ra9. [10.] Ecbatana, the rest of Media, the ther, Casians of Kashgur) ·

250 Parycanii, and the Orthocorybantes

450

19. [17.] The Paricanii, and long-haired Media Proper occupies the midland and Ethiopians of Asia

400 elevated tract between the Caspian Sea and These were the Oritæ of Alexander and the Persian Gulf. It was then the central Nearchus, and inhabited Haur, Makran, and part of the great Persian empire, and from other provinces in the south-east angle of climate, verdure, and richness of soil, the Persia towards India. most beautiful of its provinces. It is now the most western province of modern Per

The sum total

7740 sia, Mount Zagros forming the common

20. The Indians. boundary between Persia and Turkey. Is- These inhabited the extensive provinces of pahan, the present capital, is situate in the Kabul, Kandahar, and Scindia, west of the north-east corner of ancient Media.

Indus, and the Panjab, that rich stripe of coast 10. [11.] The Caspians, Pausicæ, Pan- east of the Indus. They paid (600) 360 talents timithi, and Daritæ, (including Hyrcania) 200 in gold ingots, differing, in this respect, from

11. [18.] The Matieni, Saspirians, and the other satrapies, whose payments were in Alarodians.

200 silver talents. The Saspirians occupied the eastern part of Armenia.

Such was the extent of the empire of ancient 12. [13.] Pactyica, the Armenians, etc.

400

Persia, which is now no more. It spread terror

to, and worked desolation in the nations around; • These people lived on the coast of Bithynia, where

but those who wielded its power have long since was said to be the Achcrusian cave, through which Hercules dragged Cerberus up to the light, whose foam then

mouldered in the grave. produced aconite.

Concerning the financial statement in the “That sacred plain, where, as the fable tells,

foregoing extract, Dr. Hales remarks after HeThe growling dog of Pluto, struggling hard rodotus : “ If the standard of the Babylonian Against the grasp of mighty Hercules,

talent, in which the tribute from the first nineWith dropping foam impregnating the earth, Produced a poison to destroy mankind.”—

teen provinces was paid, be reduced to the Dionysius Periegetes.

standard of the Euboic talent, the amount will + The numbers included in the brackets were the

be 9880 silver talents. And if the tribute from original numbers of Herodotus

the Indians, of 360 gold talents, be estimated at

GEDROSIA.

thirteen times the value of the silver, it will amount to 4680 Euboic talents more. So that

CARMANIA. the sum total of the tribute paid to Darius was Carmania, now Kerman, occupies the south14,560 Euboic talents.”

eastern part of Persia, extending along the This number of talents, reckoning with Ar- Persian Gulf

, from Cape Iask to a place buthnot, the Euboic or Attic talent at 1931. 153., opposite the island of Kishm, and thence northwould amount to 2,821,0001., which was a very ward to the borders of the desert, of which the moderate sum for so extensive an empire. There adjacent southern part is considered as inwere, however, a few minor tributes, both from cluded in this province, and is denominated these provinces and other nations, which Hero- Kerman, or Carmania the Desert. This part of dotus did not reckon: probably these might have the province is sandy, and impregnated with made the sum total 3,000.090l. sterling, which is salt, being occasionally intersected by short still a moderate sum compared with the revenues ridges. The remainder of this province, exof modern states.

tending more than 200 miles from south to This leads to a review of the several provinces north, but less from east to west, is nearly uninto which the country of Persia was anciently known, except the tract along the shores of divided, as mentioned by Strabo, Pliny, and the Gulf, and another tract in the interior, other writers, and as marked on the best modern between 29° and 30' n. latitude. That part of maps. Geographers, indeed, at the present day, the coast east of 57° E. longitude, which lies from the frequent changes of the limits of the along the narrow entrance of the Gulf, is exprovinces of modern Persia, preserve the ancient tremely mountainous, and the rocks approach division, though, in this respect, also, some the sea, where they form a lofty coast. The changes have been introduced. In our notice of valleys among these mountains are well watered, these provinces, much information concerning and afford fine pasturage for the flocks. They the condition they are now in, will be blended contain also fine plantations of date and other with that in which they once were.

fruit trees. This is more especially the case where the coast runs south and north, between the modern towns of Sereek and Minab, or

Minaw. Between these two places, the mounGedrosia, or Mekran, including the district of tains recede from the shores, and thus a plain is the Oritæ, extends from the eastern range of the formed, which, for its fertility, is termed by the Brahooick mountains that separate it from Sinde | natives the Paradise of Persia. The mountains to Cape Iask on the frontiers of Laristaun, or, then run northward, and form as it were a large from the sixty-eighth degree east longitude, to gulf, receding above fifty miles from the sea, and the fifty-eighth degree of the same, a space then returning to it to the north of Bunder containing 120,000 miles. In the eastern part A bassi, or Gombroon. The plain thus formed this province does not exceed 100 miles, it being resembles the sandy tracts called Gurmsir, being separated between 62' and 66° E. longitude from sterile, and producing nothing except dates. the desert of Beloochistaun by the northern That portion of the interior of Kerman which branch that projects from the Brahooick moun- has been visited by modern travellers compretains in 28° n. latitude, called Wushutee, and, hends the Nurmanshur, a district about ninety also, Much, or the Palm, as that tree grows in miles in length, and from twenty to thirty miles great abundance there. The northern extre- wide, in which are extensive cultivated grounds mity of the Kohistaun may be called a northern and comparatively small sterile tracts. Two inland projection of this province, reaching to mountain ranges enclose this district on the 30° n. latitude. This northern district has the

south and the north, the former of which is of desert of Beloochistaun on the east, that of Ker- considerable elevation, and covered with snow uran on the west, and the sandy waste of Bun- during the greater part of the year. Between poor on the south-west. This seems to be the the Nurmanshur and the town of Kerman is a only sandy waste in Gedrosia, but it is of con- desert, with a few cases of moderate extent: siderable extent. It is of an oval form, and is about the town itself there is a large tract of 155 miles long by eighty in its greatest breadth. fertile country. West of the town, reaching to The mountainous district of Bushkurd, to the the boundary of Farsistan, there are numerous east of Laristaun, is also of an oval form, being rocky ridges with difficult passes, but they are 110 miles long by eighty-five in its greatest surrounded with much cultivated ground. In breadth. There does not appear to be any rivers the unknown country, between Kerman and the of note in Gedrosia: there are some torrents, deep harbour of Gombroon, and on the road connectand rapid in the rainy season, but almost all dry ing these two towns, there is said to be a large in summer.

place called Sultan-abad. In the more cultivated Gedrosia may be divided into the coast and parts of Kerman there are several rivers, par. the interior; the former being a narrow tract, ticularly the Andanis, mentioned by Pliny and varying in breadth, and running the whole way Ptolemy. According to the accounts of the to Cape Iask, in a wavering direction, but never ancients, its mountains have mines of copper and receding further inland than 100 miles. This iron. Pomponius Mela said that the province province is represented as very barren, Ptolemy of Carminia did not sustain any cattle ; at the places here a celebrated emporium, called, “ The present day, however, it is remarkable for proHaven of Women,” which Arrian says was so ducing sheep which bear some of the finest wool called because it was first governed by a wo- in the world.

He also mentions two islands dependent Dependent on this province is the small, but on this province, Astea and Codane.

ARACHOSIA.

trance of the Persian Gulf, near 27° n. lati- of reeds and rushes, the country produces grass, tude, and 56° 30 E. longitude. The form of and grain, and tamarisks. The same may be this island is nearly circular, and its appearance said of the narrow valley through which the from the sea is broken and rugged. The whole Helmund flows. The rest of the country is now is a mere barren rock, without the slightest trace almost a desert, affording only forage for camels, of vegetation. The surface exhibits the singular and here and there a well for the wandering stratification of the island ; and the conical shape Belochees, who tend these animals. For the and isolated position of the various small hills of most part, this country is surrounded by wide and which the island consists would convey the idea dismal deserts, whence every wind brings clouds that it owes its origin to volcanic agency. The of a light shifting sand, which destroys the hills along the eastern shores of the island are fertility of the fields, and gradually overwhelms covered from their base upward with an incrust the villages. From this cause, the once rich and ation of salt, in some places transparent as ice. alluvial tract of Drangiana, which comprehended In other places, the surface is covered with a thin a surface double that of ancient Susiana, is layer of dusky red-coloured earth, which owes reduced to a small compass; and it may be its colour to the oxide of iron with which the asserted that in process of time the lake will be entire surface of the island is impregnated. The dried up, and the whole of Drangiana be merged very sand on the sea-shore is composed of the in the growing desert. finest particles of iron pulverized by the waves. This province, which was denominated DranThe island contains no fresh water springs, to giana by Ptolemy, Pliny, and Strabo ; Drangini, remedy which, the inhabitants use tanks to col- and its inhabitants, Drangi, by Diodorus Siculus; lect the rain water as it distils from the clouds. was called Zarang, and its inhabitants SaranTavernier says that the air in summer was so gæns, by Herodotus, in his account of the Persultry that the inhabitants were forced to live in sian Satrapies. Subsequently it was called Nimgrots, and lie in water. Anciently, it seems only rooze, and it is now called Sigistan, a term derived to have served as a place of retreat to the in- from the Sacæ, as Sacastana signifies the region of habitants of the adjacent shores in times of in- the Sacæ, who possessed it about the time when vasion or civil commotion. At the present day, the Scythians passed the Jaxares and the Oxus, there is a fortress garrisoned by 100 men, under and overthrew the Greek empire of Bactria, about the direction of the imam of Muskat, who farms 150 years B.C. the island from the king of Persia. His revenues are derived from the salt, which he exports in large quantities. The fortress is situated is known, except that it lay to the south of Can

Respecting the position of this province, little about 300 yards from the shore, on a projecting dahan, and the valley of the Urghundaub, and point of land, separated from the island by the Turung, or Turnuk ; it is impossible

, therefore, to say what were its physical or political limits. The accounts of ancient writers on

this subject, and the researches of modern This province, in the days of its prosperity, was one of the richest inland tracts in the geographers, are alike meagre, vain, and unsatis

factory. whole Persian empire, being a vast hollow space, surrounded by mountains and hills;

PAROPAMISUS. having on the east those of Arachosia; on the The Paropamisus, Parapamisus, Parapanisus, north, the mountains and tracts of Sebzwar- and Paropanisus of the ancients, is the Paropaprobably the Mons Bagous of Ptolemy—in the dis of the Sanscrit ; signifying the mountain of ancient Aria; on the south, a district of ancient springs, or rills, compounded of Pahar, a hill, and Gedrosia, now the eastern part of Kerman, from Panir, or Pan, water. The province took its which it is parted by a chain of lofty mountains, name from these mountains, hy which it was covered with perpetual snow, and which is de- bounded. nominated by Ptolemy Montes Becii; on the According to Ptolemy, the province of Parowest, it has the great desert of Kerman. In the pamisus extended east from Aria or Heraut, to centre of this alluvial hollow is the celebrated the Indus, having Arachosia to the south. The lake of Durrah, which in the Persian books is ancients, indeed, generally extended Persia to the sometimes called the sea of Loukh, and by the Indus, and made the provinces of Paropamisus, inhabitants, the sea of Zoor, or Khanjek. Ac- Arachosia, and Gedrosia extend in a meridional cording to Elphinstone, this lake is 150 miles in line along the western bank of that stream. Pacircuit, but Rennell and other geographers make ropamisus was bounded north by Bactria, and on it 100 miles long, and twenty broad. In its the east by the dominions of the Mogul. Ancient centre stands an insulated hill, called the Cohee writers relate, that when Alexander passed this Zoor, which tradition declares to have been country in his celebrated march, he found the anciently a fort, and which, as it is steep and country for the most part open and plain, destilofty, and surrounded by a ditch of great depth, tute of trees, and covered with snow, from the is still a place of refuge for some of the inhabita reflection of which the Macedonians were exants of the opposite shores.

posed to great inconvenience, it grievously affectThe edges of the lake of Durrah are for a ing their eyes; many of them, it is also said, considerable breadth choked with rushes and perished from the excessive cold, which seized reeds. The shores, also, are overgrown with those who walked slowly, or ventured to sit down this kind of vegetation; and being liable to inun- to rest. This description accords with the eledation, they are full of miry places and pools of vated upland of Ghazna, to which Rennell in standing water. Immediately beyond these woods his map conducts the conqueror. Elphinstone

a moat.

DRANGIANA.

a man.

HYRCANIA.

says of this climate, “ Ascending the valley of coronets; and all the men illustrious warriors, the Turnuk from Candahar, the cold increases whose girdles are studded with gold; and noat every stage, and the heat of the summer di- thing but a wilful perversity of mind, or corporeal minishes in the same proportion. Even at Ke- infirmity, can hinder a person from being cheerlauti Ghiljee snow falls often and lies long, ful and happy in Mazanderan." and the Turnuk is often frozen so as to bear Such were the delights the oriental poet held

Now this place is in n. lat. 32° 30', out to his rulers in Mazanderan, in all the force and Kelautee is in the lowest part of the valley of oriental exaggeration. The province of Hyrof the Turnuk. In the high tract south of cania or Mazanderan was doubtless a delightful that valley, the cold appears to be as great as province; but there appear to have been some in any part of Afghanistaun. At Kelaue Abdorr- .drawbacks upon its loveliness. Strictly speaking, chem the snow lies four months annually, and Hyrcania comprehended the small tract denomiall that time the rivers are frozen, so as to bear nated Gurgan in ancient Persia, which signifies, a man. Ascending still higher, we at last reach the land of wolves, from the superabundance of the level of Ghuznee, or Ghazna, which is gene- these animals. From this word D'Anville suprally mentioned as the coldest part of the plain poses the Greeks to have formed the name of country in the Caubul dominions. The cold of Hyrcania. Sir W. Ouseley states that on enterGhuznee is spoken of as excessive, even by the ing Mazanderan, he was informed that he would inhabitants of the cold countries in its vicinity. find a babr, tiger ; a guraz, boar ; rubah, foxes; For the greatest part of the winter, the people shegkal, jackals ; and a gurg, or wolf. Accordingseldom quit their houses ; and even in the city ly, the very first thing that he saw, on entering of Ghuznee the snow has been known to lie deep a village of Hyrcania, was the carcase of a large for some time after the vernal equinox. Tradi- wolf, which had been shot-just half an hour betions prevail of the city having been twice de- fore his arrival, and which looked terrible in stroyed by falls of snow, in which all the people death, “grinning horribly a ghastly grin ;" thus were buried.”

proving the truth of the poet, that, “every where the pleasures of the chase may be enjoyed,” if

such may be termed pleasures. In ancient times, Hyrcania, now called Mazanderan, compre- Hyrcania was infested with panthers and tigers, hends the largest and widest portion of the low so fierce and cruel, as to give rise to a proverb plain along the shores of the Caspian Sea. It is concerning fierce and unrelenting men, that they one of the most fertile provinces of the Persian had sucked Hyrcanian tigers. The poet Virgil empire, whether the mountains or the plains refers to this in his Æneid. Representing Dido are considered. Travellers passing through the chiding Æneas, he puts into her mouth these forests of Mazanderan, pass through thickets words: of sweetbriar and honeysuckle ; and are sur- “False as thou art, and more than false, forsworn, rounded with acacias, oaks, lindens, and chest- Not sprung from noble blood, nor goddess born,

But hewn from harden'd entrails of a rock! nut trees. The summits of the mountains are

And rough Hyrcanian tigers gave thee suck!" crowned with cedars, cypresses, and various species of pines. So beautiful is this district, that Strabo, who extends Hyrcania as far north as in the hyperbolical language of the orientals it the river Ochus, says from Aristobulus that is styled, Belad-al-Irem, or, the Land of the Ter- Hyrcania was a woody region, producing oaks restrial Paradise. Sir W. Ouseley relates, that and pines, but not the pitch pine, which abounded Kaikus, the Persian king, was fired with ambi- in India. It has been mentioned as a curious tion to conquer so fine a country, thro the circumstance, that in Mazanderan an axe used influence of a minstrel, who exhausted all his for cutting is called tabr. Now the Tapyri, or powers of music and poetry in the praise of its Tabari, inhabited a district in Hyrcania, and if beauties : his strains read thus :

this name be derived from tabr, an axe, it will " Let the king consider the delights of Mazan- signify hatchet-men, or wood-cutters, á name deran, and may that country flourish during all Tery appropriate to the inhabitants of a country eternity; for in its gardens roses ever blow, and

covered with forests like Hyrcania, and, though even its mountains are covered with hyacinths restricted by the Greeks to the western inhabitand tulips. Its land abounds in all the beauties ants of that province, is equally applicable to of nature; its climate is salubrious and temperate, those of the eastern part

. According to Sir W neither too warm nor too cold; it is a region of Ouseley, the name of the part in which the Tabari. perpetual spring: there, in shady bowers, the lived, namely, Tabristan, or Tabaristan, signifies nightingale ever sings; there the fawn and ante- the country of wood. lope incessantly wander among valleys; every

According to Morier, Mazanderan is a modern spot, throughout the whole year, is embellished Persian phrase, signifying, “ Within the boundand perfumed with flowers; the very brooks of ary or limit of the mountain.” This is conthat country seem to be rivulets of rose water, firmed by Sir W. Ouseley, who says, from Hamso much does this exquisite fragrance delight the dallah, an eminent Persian geographer, that Masoul. During the winter months, as at all other zanderan was originally named Mawz-anderan, seasons, the ground is enamelled, and the banks or within the mountain Mawz. He says, “ The of murmuring streams smile with variegated Coh-Alburz is an immense mountain adjacent to flowers ; every where the pleasures of the chase Bab-al-abwab, (Derbend,) and many mountains may be enjoyed; all places abound with money, are connected with Alburz; so that from Turfine stuffs for garments, and every other article

kestan to Hejas, it forms a range extending in necessary for comfort or luxury. There all the length 1000 farsangs, about 130 miles, more or attendants are lovely damsels, wearing golden less; and on this account some regard it as the

a

a

ARIA.

mountain of Kaf, (Caucasus.) Its western side, and contain large towns. The wide valleys connected with the mountains of Gurjestan, which lie between the desert and the declivities (Georgia,) is called the Coh Lagzi, (Daghestan,) that form the descent between the table-land of and the Sur a lakaeim relates, that in the Coh Iran to the low sandy plains of Turan, possess Lagzi there are various races of people ; so that a considerable degree of fertility. This is proved about seventy different languages or dialects are by the existence of numerous and populous used among them ; and in that mountain are villages, which are frequently ravaged by the many wonderful objects; and when it reaches Turkomans and Kurds. The latter people are Shemshat and Malatiah, (Samosata Melitene,) it settled in a very wide and fertile valley, extending

is called Kali Kala. At Antakia and Sakeliah, from the town of Mushed in a north-western || (Antioch and Seleucia,) it is called Lekam; there direction for more than 100 miles, for the purpose

it divides Sham (Syria) from Room, (Asia of protecting the country against the invasion of Minor.) When it reaches between Hems (Emesa) the Turkomans; but notwithstanding this, they and Demishk, (Damascus,) it is called Lebnan, frequently themselves lay waste the most fertile (Lebanon,) and near Mecca and Medina it is portion of Khorassan. The vicinity of Herat called Arish. Its eastern side, connected with supplies assafoetida, saffron, pistachio nuts, mastic, the mountains of Arran (Eastern Armenia) and manna, a gum called birzund, a yellow dye called Aderbijan, it is called Keik, and when it reaches ispiruck, and carroway seeds. The wide and to Ghilan, (the Gelae and Cadusians,) and Irak, fertile valley which runs from Mushed north(Media,) it takes the name of Terkel-diz-cuh ; it wards, and which is in the possession of the is called Mauz when it reaches Kurnish and Kurds, is also well cultivated, and contains some Mazanderan; and originally Mazanderan was places of note. Westward of Mushed, near named Mawz-enderan; and when Alburz reaches Nishapoor, is the celebrated fortress of Kelat Khorassan, it is called Lurry.” From this it Nadiree,“ the fortress of Nadir.” This fortress appears that Mazanderan signifies all the region is situated, according to Frazer, in a valley from within the mountain Mawz and the Caspian Sea, fifty to sixty miles in length, by twelve or fifteen which lies east of Ghilan and the Kizil Ozan. in breadth, surrounded by mountains so steep

Unlike the rest of Persia, Mazanderan is that a little assistance from art has rendered them watered by numerous rivers, or mountain tor- impassable; the rocks being scarped into the rents, all running from the mountains to the sea. form of a gigantic wall. A small river runs The German traveller Gmelin, who visited this through this valley, and the only points of access country A. D. 1771, says that in the space of eight occur where the stream leaves it, and these are miles, on the road from Resht to Amot, 250 of fortified by towers and walls, which form no such streams are to be seen, many of them being mean barrier. so exceedingly broad and deep, that the passage across is sometimes impracticable for weeks together. In this respect Mazanderan furnishes Aria is the modern Heraut, sometimes proa striking contrast to the waste and barren shores nounced without the aspirate. This province of southern Persia, where for many hundred lay to the east of Parthia and the desert of Kermiles there is not a stream to be met with deep man, to the north of Drangiana, to the south of enough to take a horse above the knee. Hence the western prolongation of the Paropamisan arises the fertility of Mazanderan. So mild and range, called the mountains of Saraphi by humid, indeed, is the climate of Mazanderan, Ptolemy, and to the west of the province of Parothat it permits the growth of the sugar cane, and pamisus. This province is sometimes called the production of good sugar, and that in per- Ariana, bat whether this latter name included fection four months earlier than in the West more than the province of Aria is by no means Indies. From the lack of art and care, however, agreed among geographers. The situation of this gift of nature is not turned to account by Aria corresponds to that of the modern Sejestan, the inhabitants of that province.

and the southern part of Khorassan. Strabo calls this province and Margiana, the best in the

whole country. They are, he says, watered by The province of Bactriana comprehended the rivers Arios and Margos; the former of which what is now called Eastern Persia, or Kho- | is described by Arrian as a river not less than rassan, in addition to the country beyond the Peneios of Thessalia, yet losing itself in the the Paropamisus. Khorassan, or “the rising ground, and which answers to the present Herisun,” extends over a large part of the great Rud. Strabo also remarks that Aria is about 160 desert, and nearly the whole of the mountainous miles in length, and twenty-five in breadth ; but region north of it. According to the Persian this can only be understood as applying to the geographers, it once comprehended the whole of principal part of the province, or probably the northern Persia, as far as the neighbourhood valley of the river Arios, which seems to have of the Indus; that is, nearly the whole of the been early celebrated for its fertility. In this country subject to the King of Afghanistan. At plain Heraut is situated, and captain Grant, who the present time, its eastern boundary lies near spent a month there in 1810, describes it as 62° east longitude; and even the town of Herat watered by an ample stream, as covered with is subject to the Afghans, who, however, acknow- villages, and as teeming with corn. “ The rich ledge that it belongs to Persia, and annually landscape,” he says, “ receives additional beauty send a present to Teheran in token of this and variety from the numerous mosques, tombs, acknowledgment. In that portion of the desert and other edifices by which it is embellished, and which lies between Herat and Yezd, many oases the mountain slopes by which it is surrounded.” occur, some of which are of considerable extent, | The country of Aria is not mentioned by Hero

BACTRJANA.