'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME I' [‎99v] (203/820)

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ELB—ELB
E
ELBURZ—
A range of mountains in Persia, part of the great mountain system of
Asia. All authorities seem to agree that they are connected with the
Paropamisus range, the watershed of which runs south of Herat, Ghurian,
Khaf and Turshiz, to a point on the road between BIrjumand and Gaud-i-
Baghin (Khorasan, which Clerk says is the highest point on the road
between Shahrud and Herat) near Bustam ; thence _one range runs back
again north-east and east round the north part of Khorasan, dividing it from
the Atak, and eventually dying away about Kalat-i-Nadiri •, the other
range goes with a direction south-west to the peak of Damavand; it then
turns west, and trends to north-west till turned by thg Kizil Uzun river,
whence one spur is thrown west parallel to that river ; here the main range
turns south-west, and, crossing Khamseh, is joined with the mountains of
Ardalan near the sources of the Kizil Uzun river.
The Elburz, like every range in South-West Asia, may be said to owe
its origin eventually to the Pamirs ; for, as has been shewn above, it is con
nected with the mountains of the Paropamisus by a range which runs south
of Meshed and north of the Great Salt Desert of Khorasan ; and the moun
tains of Ardalan being connected with those of Ararat and the Caucasus,
it is clear that the Elburz may be regarded as the connecting link between
the two.
The Eastern Elburz may be said to commence from the latitude of
Astarabad, whence it extends in a serried, unbroken line eastward for about
100 miles to the point where the Naudeh valley cuts deep into the chain.
Thence it spreads out forming a broad expanse of hilly country, extending
north to the banks of the main stream of the Atrak, and east for about 70
miles.
To the west this tract is supported by the Kuh-i-Zirkai, which abuts on
the Gurgan plain. A line of heights connected by low ridges divides it
from the Jajarm plain on the south. It is traversed from east to west
by numerous plateaux, more or less level, forming the Gurgan drainage
basin, but draining also south to the desert and north into the Atrak.
Beyond the Kuh-i-Zirkai the range loses its covering of forest, and the hill
slopes become bare and rugged; but the plateaux are for the most part
fertile, well watered, and capable of supporting a considerable population.
From the Shaughan and Simalqan plateaux rises the Aleh Dagh, a
high mass of mountains which, together with the Kuh-i-Saluq to the
south-east, of about the same height and of greater extent, drops its
northern spurs into the plain of Bujnurd, and its southern spurs into the
Jajarm or Isfaraln plain. r
East from Aleh Dagh and Saluq the range extends in a high, unbroken ime,
falling abruptly into the plain of Isfarain and with easy undulations
into that of Kuchan. Takht-i-Mirza and ShahJehan, the two highest
points, reach an absolute elevation of 10,000 or 11,000 feet, while above
the plains north and south they rise 5,000 feet and 4,000 feet respectively.