les into the salt lake
which swallows them up. This lake, when full, has a length of fifty or
sixty miles, with a breadth of from three to six. In summer, however,
it is often quite dry, the water of the Bendamir being expended in
irrigation before reaching its natural terminus. The valley and plain of
the Bendamir, and its tributaries, are among the most fertile portions
of Persia, as well as among those of most historic interest.

The basin of the Deriah-i-Nemek is smaller than that of the Neyriz, but
it is even more productive. Numerous brooks and streams, rising not far
from Shiraz, run on all sides into the Nemek lake, which has a length
of about fifteen and a breadth of three or three and a half miles. Among
the streams is the celebrated brook of Hafiz, the Rocknabad, which still
retains "its singular transparency and softness to the taste." Other
rills and fountains of extreme clearness abound, and a verdure is the
result, very unusual in Persia. The vines grown in the basin produce
the famous Shiraz wine, the only good wine which is manufactured in the
East. The orchards are magnificent. In the autumn "the earth is covered
with the gathered harvest, flowers, and fruits; melons, peaches, pears,
nectarines, cherries, grapes, pomegranates; all is a garden, abundant in
sweets and refreshment."

But, notwithstanding the exceptional fertility of the Shiraz plain
and of a few other places, Persia Proper seems to have been rightly
characterized in ancient times as "a scant land and a rugged." Its area
was less than a fifth of the area of modern Persia; and of this space
nearly one half was uninhabitable, consisting either of barren stony
mountain or of scorching sandy plain, ill supplied with water and often
impregnated with salt. Its products, consequently, can have been at no
time either very abundant or very varied. Anciently, the low coast tract
seems to have been cultivated to a small extent in corn, and to have
produced good dates and a few other fruits. The mountain region was, as
we have seen, celebrated for its excellent pastures, for its abundant
fruits, and especially for its grapes. Within the mountains, on the
high plateau, assafoetida (silphium) was found, and probably some other
medicinal herbs. Corn, no doubt, could be grown largely in the plains
and valleys of the mountain tract, as well as on the plateau, so far as
the _kanats_ carried the water. There must have been, on the whole, a
deficiency of tim