pavements of baths and palaces; when cut thin they often take the place
of glass in windows, being semi-transparent. The marble is commonly of
a pale yellow color, but occasionally it is streaked with red, green, or
copper-colored veins.

In metals the country is thought to be rich, but no satisfactory
examination of it has been as yet made. Iron, copper, and native steel
are derived from mines actually at work; while Europeans have observed
indications of lead, arsenic, and antimony in Azerbijan, in Kurdistan,
and in the rocky ridges which intersect the desert. Tradition speaks
of a time when gold and silver were procured from mountains near
Takht-i-Suleman, and it is not unlikely that they may exist both there
and in the Zagros range. Quartz, the well-known matrix of the precious
metal, abounds in Kurdistan.

Of all the mineral products, none is more abundant than salt. On the
side of the desert, and again near Tabriz at the mouth of the Aji Su,
are vast plains which glisten with the substance, and yield it readily
to all who care to gather it up. Saline springs and streams are also
numerous, from which salt can be obtained by evaporation. But, besides
these sources of supply, rock salt is found in places, and this is
largely quarried, and is preferred by the natives.

Other important products of the earth are saltpetre, which is found
in the Elburz, and in Azerbijan; sulphur, which abounds in the same
regions, and likewise on the high plateau; alum, which is quarried near
Tabriz; naphtha and gypsum, which are found in Kurdistan; and talc,
which exists in the mountains near Koum, in the vicinity of Tabriz, and
probably in other places.

The chief wild animals which have been observed within the limits of
the ancient Media are the lion, the tiger, the leopard, the bear, the
beaver, the jackal, the wolf, the wild ass, the ibex or wild goat, the
wild sheep, the stag, the antelope, the wild boar, the fox, the hare,
the rabbit, the ferret, the rat, the jerboa, the porcupine, the mole,
and the marmot. The lion and tiger are exceedingly rare; they seem to
be found only in Azerbijan, and we may perhaps best account for their
presence there by considering that a few of these animals occasionally
stray out of Mazanderan, which is their only proper locality in this
part of Asia. Of all the beasts, the most abundant are the stag and the
wild goat, which are numerous in the Elburz, and in parts of Azerbijan,
the wild boar, wh