62 FLOODING OF TH E EUPHRATES. [CH A P . I I I .
him in one view by the accompanying plate; which shows,
in minute detail, the changes of the river between the 26th
of July, 1835, and the 13th of June, 1836, when we entered
the Persian Gulf. This will enable those who are interested
in the subject to ascertain the variations more readily than
they could be obtained from any general description.1
From the measurements and calculations of Lieutenants
Cleveland and Murphy, it is found that, at Hit, the mean of
the velocities of the current, at high and low water, in the
Euphrates, is 4‘46 feet per second; and that, at Baghdad, the
mean velocity of the Tigris is 7-33 feet per second. The mean
velocity of the Danube, at Pesth, has, by Mr. George Rennie,
been ascertained to be 2 3 3 feet per second; and M. Girard
determined the mean velocity of the Nile, at Cairo, to be only
1 foot 11 inches per second.
It may not be uninteresting to mention here, that, from the
observations of the two officers above-mentioned, Mr. Rennie
found the quantity of water' discharged by the Euphrates, at
Hit, to be 72804 cubic feet per second; and the quantity discharged
by the Tigris, at Baghdad, to be 164103 cubic feet.
The sum of these quantities (= 2 3 6 9 0 7 cubic feet) may, perhaps,
be taken as a near approximation to the whole quantity
discharged in a second by the Shatt el Arab, which is formed
by the united waters of those rivers. Mr. Rennie estimates
the quantity discharged by the Danube, in an equal time, at
338100 cubic feet.
Having thus followed, in a general way, the courses of the
four great rivers which rise in Central Armenia, I enter next
upon the proposed geographical account of the countries in
their neighbourhood; these are, Ira n , or the territory eastward,
and Arabia on the west; and, in the course of the
description, some notices concerning their ancient boundaries
and condition will occasionally be presented.
1 The graduated scale was planned, as well as executed, by Acting Serjeant
Major William Quin, Royal Artillery, storekeeper during the Expedition, who
kept the daily register of those changes, as well as the ranges of the thermometer
; and from whom I have received the most valuable and unremitting
assistance during the three last years in preparing the different maps accompanying
this work.
CHAPTER IV.
T R A N .
General Observations on the Countries between the Rivers Nile and Indus.—
Features.—Variety of Climate.—Divisions.—Mount Ararat as the centre of
the Mountains and Rivers.—Great ridge of Kurdistan.—Anti-Taurus.—
Taurus.—Southern range of I'rdn.—Northern range.—Minerals.—Watercourses.—
Surface.— Deserts.— Aspect. — Four Climates. — Vegetation.—
Zoology.— Man.— Language.— Religion.— Zoroaster.— Sunnies.— Shi’ahs.
—Mulld.—Heterodox Creeds.—Pagans.—Astrology.—Superstitions.—Subdivisions
of I'rdn.
H a v i n g in the preceding Chapters given a general description
of the four principal rivers of Western Asia, as well as of the
circumjacent territory, it now becomes requisite, consistently
with the plan of this part of the work, briefly to notice all
the countries in that part of the world which have been
connected together geographically and historically ; in consequence
of having been at one period subject to the sway of
the same monarch. The space now to be considered is that
which lies between the great natural boundaries formed by
the rivers Nile and Indus, and comprehends the different
satrapies which constituted the empire of Darius Hystaspes.
This mighty empire extended from Libya on the west, to
India on the east, or from 30° to 70° E. longitude; and from
.Scythia on the north, to the Indian sea on the south, or
from 45° to 25° north latitude. It thus formed an immense
parallelogram, containing nearly 800 square degrees, with
its extremities bordering upon four remarkable seas; the
Black and Caspian being on the north, the Mediterranean on
the west, and the Indian Ocean on the south. From the last
two great branches strike northward along each side of the
extensive peninsula of Arabia: of these, the Persian Gulf