another a little above Nakshivan, and the third at Khudoperinski,
a little below Megree. The length of the Aras, including only main
windings, is 500 miles.

The Kizil-Uzen, or (as it is called in the lower part of its course) the
Sefid-Rud, is a stream of less size than the Aras, but more important
to Media, within which lies almost the whole of its basin. It drains a
tract of 180 miles long by 150 broad before bursting through the Elburz
mountain chain, and descending upon the low country which skirts the
Caspian. Rising in Persian Kurdistan almost from the foot of Zagros,
it runs in a meandering course with a general direction of north-east
through that province into the district of Khamseh, where it suddenly
sweeps round and flows in a bold curve at the foot of lofty and
precipitous rocks, first northwest and then north, nearly to Miana, when
it doubles back upon itself, and turning the flank of the Zenjan range
runs with a course nearly south-east to Menjil, after which it resumes
its original direction of north-east, and, rushing down the pass of
Budbar, crosses Ghilan to the Caspian. Though its source is in direct
distance no more than 320 miles from its mouth, its entire length, owing
to its numerous curves and meanders, is estimated at 490 miles. It is a
considerable stream, forded with difficulty, even in the dry season, as
high up as Karagul, and crossed by a bridge of three wide arches before
its junction with the Garongu river near Miana. In spring and early
summer it is an impetuous torrent, and can only be forded within a short
distance of its source.

The Jaghetu and the Aji-Su are the two chief rivers of the Urumiyeh
basin. The Jaghetu rises from the foot of the Zagros chain, at a very
little distance from the source of the Kizil-Uzen. It collects the
streams from the range of hills which divides the Kizil-Uzen basin from