and sterile, bearing only a coarse withered grass and a few stunted
bushes.

Still there are considerable exceptions to this general aspect of
desolation. In the worst parts of the region there is a time after
the spring rains when nature puts on a holiday dress, and the country
becomes gay and cheerful. The slopes at the base of the rocky ranges are
tinged with an emerald green: a richer vegetation springs up over the
plains, which are covered with a fine herbage or with a variety of
crops; the fruit trees which surround the villages burst out into the
most luxuriant blossom; the roses come into bloom, and their perfume
everywhere fills the air. For the two months of April and May the
whole face of the country is changed, and a lovely verdure replaces the
ordinary dull sterility.

In a certain number of more favored spots beauty and fertility are
found during nearly the whole of the year. All round the shores of Lake
Urumiyeh, more especially in the rich plain of Miyandab at its southern
extremity, along the valleys of the Aras, the Kizil-uzen, and the
Jaghetu, in the great valley of Linjan, fertilized by irrigation from
the Zenderud, in the Zagros valleys, and in various other places,
there is an excellent soil which produces abundantly with very slight
cultivation.

The general sterility of Media arises from the scantiness of the water
supply. It has but few rivers, and the streams that it possesses run for
the most part in deep and narrow valleys sunk below the general level of
the country, so that they cannot be applied at all widely to purposes of
irrigation. Moreover, some of them are, unfortunately, impregnated
with salt to such an extent that they are altogether useless for