Lams»
Urmiâ.
Erivan.
Mountains.
Far1 to the N. W. appears; the. large■ lake .of Urnua, fo called;froip. a
town near itsTomtherii. extremity. This lake; is reprefented . as about
fifty B. miles in length, by about half P ’Anvnip,
fuppofes thatj thp; lake Van,, at aogreat diflance,;
trquity,heveohelüdës-.. that this ■ is the Spauta of Strabo, and the Mar-
eiarres of Bfpletny, being the Capoton of Armenian geography. However
this be,, the lake of Urmia is fa-id to be confiderably impregnated
with fait, and the. neighbouring mountains were remarkable as the feats
of the AfialFins-. The lake of Krivan^ about 120 B. miles to the N.,
is a b o u t twenty-five leagues in circumference, with' a fmall ille in the
middle : it abounds is carp and' tr-out ; and is the Lychnites of
Ptolemy.< . v:i . - - - ; ■ '
The, preeife $nà exaft knowledge of mountains, particylar-lyqf the
direftion and extent of the chief ranges, which, with their fide
branches,- often -referable the leading bone of a filh, having been one
of the moft resent improvements even in jÇ^j^^jgfip^raphyj. 1 * ^ 7 ;
not be expected5that the Oriental ffiould
dns topic, .Travellers have rarely ^tended to the gtea„t geographic^
features, but have chiefly confined their attention to .buildings, and.
other'exertions,:of human raduffry, or to botany and zoology. Hence
the difficulty which attends many branches of geographical defcriptiop ;
and in the prefent inftance early travellers are unanimous in representing
Perfia.; as a plain country, fo blind were they to the moft ftriking
objects around them.
The firffi objeS, even in a -Abort account of the Perfian mountains,
muft be to .trace the direction of the chief, chains. ■ It is clear, from the
accurate defeription of Gmelin, that the. Caucasian ridge extends to the
weft of Ghi.lan and fouth of Mazendran, till it expire in Çorafan, on
the S. E. of the Cafpian fea. As this ridge wâs the Taurus of the
ancients, which thçy fuppofed to extend throughout the whole length
of Afia it is evident that their idea was erroneous .and hypothetical.
If it had been connected, as they fuppofed, with Hindoo Koh and the
mountains of Tibet, the theory might have been in fame meafure juft ;
.1 Ghardin, ii. 222. Tourne!, ii. -z56.
« See the Ferfro among the Elzevir Republics, 1633, X2mo. -
4 but
hut the Hindoo Kah is an extenfiomofl the Belur Tag towards the W.,
and isi feparated-.evenTropi the Tow; mountains of Gorafan. by wide
deferts and plains.
■ This northern ridgaydhferibed' by. Gmelinj b,fv^Sdently clear j* as
is the moft, fouthern -'chain ;0f grqat height ^deferihed-hy« ’Mr. franklin,
running parallel with the Perfian guljih. JSL W. *and}S- .E. at about the
diflance of 50 B. miles.
A third range, of mountains, of very great height, .feepis.to< continue
in the fame direction with.this baft, to .the S’, of; the ;lake'of. Urmia,
where' it is connected with the Caucafiah fidge. fiTMsi is the. gr'andeft
chain o f mountains in Perfi'a, and mayj after the .exampierof D’Anvill^
be ftyled that of Elwend, derived from "a particular, mountain in the
neighbourhood.-of ,Hamadan ; but'thei Elwend of that greats pSSogr^pher
is, ^Iifce Ms in a moft iconfufedimahner}
and .he intercepts its courfc by a wide defert which realiy.flies to the
W.\q£ the range, y '
A parallel ridg© >on the W.v.called'jby, the’ Tyrks, Aiagba' T-agy is ftrp-
poled to be the Zagrdsipfifte anden'tg,. ^hichfeparated; r Afiysa ifrora
Medi&f This weftecu chain feems stfo eietfnd 'toftb^ iaW bt iKshi . fpjf
mount Ararat is ieptefeoted.i as banding {©ljtary ip-'the.midfft’pf a wide
plain,.jand from proximity mightiratben be i clafled .whh thefjfange of
Gaucafns.^: The mountain;of SawalaA/ mentioned by Le Bcui^ tphhe
S; of Ardebil, alfa belongs -to the CaSucafian mafs. S ';
• Hetzardara, or the tboufand mountains, form a branch 'on the^nbrth
of Ears,, and ope part of it, which' -giyes'-'rife 'to the river, of Ifpahan, is
’ * Dec. Ruff. ii. 388.' The French tramlatoi^iMy obfefves that ao&fufttThth^fip,
conftrnfilion (hews little ftdlfin, mineralogy. Near1 Derbent .and Baki| |S |y are calcareouSiObut
the:central chain.feemSiiig^nitieti jit forms a ,femici,ijcle',on 'the,Si mfiliie .Cs'.fpiY.ii j ;and, Hanway •
has obferved, i. 1 jo, that, .even at Aftrabad 'the Turn ini t's are fo 'high asvifp Hide theTah from a
(hip in the-bay, foifmofc rluin an. hour.alter it has;riifen. ;;
f . Utter, ■!.. tSjjjinforms ,u s’.that: pLooriltan,-^a .connitry;. between Taller and; Ifpahan,. is
properly one mountain, fix days’ journey in-length. ibetongs ltd the main ridge of Elwend! ;
1 D’Ariyilie Anc. G'eog. ii. 463;.
it ftmong pie -mduntairis of Kurdittan the Eiave is the-lirgheft’,1 the^ttmif^m^ew»ri%ft iWlth:
'thick fog and perpetual (now.(Gttep, ii. 269). The fame author fays thatf.fhe.ridge of Hamrin
■begins.in Arabia,rjatad fpreads.through the-.defertrof! Bagdad, being pierced by the-;Euphrates and
Tigris, and ending at the Perfian gulph : it is a low range of a rcddifli .colour. 16. 43.
M ountains.
called