'MILITARY REPORT ON PERSIA' [‎43v] (91/466)

Lakes*
Lake Urumleh.
ILuiiims.
Earia-i-Namak.
The only lake of any size in Persia is Lake Urumieh in
Azarbaijan. The Persians call it Darla-i-Shahi or royal sea.
The lake is 84 miles long by 20 to 30 wide, nearly 300 miles in
circumference, and 4,230 feet above the sea. The dimensions
vary according to the time of year, but the above are the
average. The lake, in spring and at high water, covers about
2,300 square miles, and 1,550 square miles at low water. The
salinity is less than that of the Dead Sea. It is extremely
shallow and the bed is a series of terraces, so that each change of
depth takes place abruptly, not gradually. The maximum
depth discovered is 45 feet, but the average depth is not more
than 15 to 16 feet; a man can walk 2 miles out from the
shore without getting out of his depth. No fish can live in its
waters. The banks are covered with a thick treacherous slime,
composed partly of salt, partly of decomposed vegetable matter,
emitting a horrible effluvium. Sixty islands are clustered
together towards the southern end; the largest is 5 miles in
length, and three are used for cultivation or pasture. The lake
is little used for navigation, though it and its tributary
streams are suited for it; but only a few small boats
are allowed to ply between the opposite shores. Fourteen rivers
of various sizes discharge into the lake, which has no outlet.
The remainder of the lakes of Persia of any size are more
correctly classed as Hdmuns, the literal meaning of this word
being lowlying ground which is liable at limes to become
a lake. They have no outlet, and this is compensated for by
evaporation; they often exist in the form of salt swamps. Hamuns
are found all over the central plateau in places where there
are no mountains. Gaud and Zireh possess the same meaning.
The most important are—
Darld-h-Namah or Masileh, lying north-east and east of
Qum. This is a large expanse of salt water, the eastern boundary
of which is formed by a continuous sheet of hardest salt rock
resembling ice. This in winter is said to be covered with 2 to 3
feet of salt water, but does not dissolve, affording a firm passage
and good foothold. The ground adjoining is kavir, or
swampy soil with a salty efflorescence, where the roads are
not easily distinguishable.
Darid-i-Nirlz or Nairlz Bahhtlgdn is in Pars, its most
westerly point, when the waters are highest, being 35 miles east
L>aria-i-Xiriz,