The Geographical Journal (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society): Volume X, No. 6 [‎89r] (30/186)

RECENT JOURNEYS IN PERSIA.
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have been the constant theme of historians for more than two thousand
years, but to-day it presents so great a variety of interesting problems,
and has so faithfully preserved its ancient immutable civilization, that
every traveller who has once crossed its great plateau is fired with the
desire to return again and again. Before approaching the subject of
my three journeys, I would give a brief description of the country upon
which we are about to enter.
The kingdom of His Imperial Majesty the Shah stretches, roughly
speaking, for 1000 miles from east to west, and for 800 miles from
north to south —an area rather larger than that of the countries
composing the Triple Alliance. In the provinces which border the
Caspian sea the rainfall is very heavy, but, with that small exception,
the most noticeable feature is the dryness of Persia, and this is the
main cause of its delightful climate. I have mentioned this before
anything else, as it appears to me that sufficient attention has not been
paid to the enormous effect that deforestation has had, not only on
Persia, but on Central Asia generally. It is this fact, and this alone, I
would urge, that explains how great armies were able to march across
countries the sterility of which would, at the present time, bar the
progress of anything beyond a very moderate force; and, conversely, it
is upon the successful solution of this problem that the future of these
desiccated regions (I use the term advisedly) depends.
To continue, both on the north and south, the great Iran plateau is
held up by mighty ranges, which are traversed by mule-tracks, and it
is owing to the rugged nature of these passes that the isolation of Persia
from the rest of the world is partly due. The plateau once reached, the
traveller finds himself on a series of broad plains with mountain ranges on
each side of him, which trend to the north-west with amazing regularity.
For instance, when travelling to my district of Kerman, a distance of
600 miles from Tehran, I traversed the same great plain throughout,
and never lost sight of the two parallel ranges at any portion of my
journey. These mountains, which rise to great elevations, are, as my
previous remarks would show, entirely bare of timber, while the whole
country consists of desert with rare oases, dependent for their existence
upon “ kanats.” By this term, underground channels which tap distant
springs in the hills are signified, and it may be imagined how costly
and laborious a system this is, the water being frequently carried a
distance of over 30 miles to the village it supplies.
There are no navigable rivers in Persia, with the exception of the
Karun, and it is extraordinary that between the Indus and this river,
a distance of 1500 miles, no considerable body of water reaches the
sea. To the north, owing to the heavier rainfall, it is different, and
there are two or three rivers of moderate volume flowing into the
Caspian sea.
This summary would not be complete without a reference to the