'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME II' [‎73r] (150/706)

DAMAVAND
133
The mountain is of volcanic origin, consisting of layers of calcareous tufa
sandstone, coal, limestone, greenstone, whilst the cone or summit is com-
posed of a soft rock from which pure sulphur is dug ; there are hot springs at
the base. Felly says the coal is of good quality and always burns in the British
.Legation m Tehran. The hot springs are near the village of Garmab on the
soutn side, the hottest of which, Garmsir, has a temperature of 148°Fahr
Th f c ?' le terminates in a crater, 85 yards wide, the sides beir^ , com-
po^ed of basalt, sulphur and limestone, the basin being nearly always filled
with snow. J
From two caves near the summit, and many small holes in the rock a
stream, strongly impregnated with sulphur, issues. Very severe earth
quakes are sometimes felt in Damavand.
Snow lies upon the mountain all the year round, but only in large
patches, parts of its extreme summit being totally uncovered. It does not
look so high as Ararat, although its cone is much more abrupt nor does
it m any manner rest upon so extensive a base.
It would appear that though classed as an extinct volcano, the fires of
Dama'v and are still alive and may become active.
At about 5 niiles from Damavand is a lake, apparently formed by the
waters of melted snow, which have accumulated in a valley without an
outlet: it is situated at a considerable height above the town of Dama
vand, in the basin of some very craggy mountains, without the possibility
of a natural outlet. A water-mark all round shows the maximum of
the collection, when the snows have entirely melted, which is in the sprino' •
since that time we observed that it had decreased several feet in conse ,
quence of evaporation alone. Some of the old inhabitants of Damavand
assert that whenever the waters of this lake decrease below their usual
quantity, several springs in the neighbourhood of the town become dry
This lake or basin—the water of which is quite fresh and most piercingly
cold—is about half a mile m circumference. Its depth is great and in
the winter it is frozen. It is entirely enclosed to the northward by an
almost perpendicular chain of high mountains, the snows of which afford
it the greatest supply of water .—(Thomson ; Ainsworth ■ Morier ■ Pellv •
Traser.) ’ J ’
(( x For the various_ observations for the altitude of Damavand
Notes on Damavand” in the Proceedings of the Royal
Society, February 1888. y
see Schindler’s
Geographical
DAMAVAND—(Village) —Elev. TjbOO'.
A large village of 400 to 500 houses (300 of which are Damavandis, and
the remainder Kirman families brought from that province by Agha
Muhammad Khan) 40 miles north-east of Tehran, at the south foot of
the Damavand mountain.
It is situated in a hollow on the banks of the Damavand stream, which
rises north of Zannkuh in the lake district of Tar, on the road from
lehran, and is first distinguished by some old turrets which stand con
spicuous on an eminence, and by one brick minaret which formerly be-
onged to its best mosque. The valley about 3 miles in length and 2
in breadth, inclining on a gradual descent from the north to the south