or coast tract, was (they said) a sandy desert, producing nothing but a
few dates, owing to the intensity of the heat. Above this was a fertile
region, grassy, with well-watered meadows and numerous vineyards,
enjoying a delicious climate, producing almost every fruit but the
olive, containing pleasant parks or "paradises," watered by a number
of limpid streams and clear lakes, well wooded in places, affording an
excellent pasture for horses and for all sorts of cattle, abounding
in water-fowl and game of every kind, and altogether a most delightful
abode. Beyond this fertile region, towards the north, was a rugged
mountain tract, cold and mostly covered with snow, of which they did not
profess to know much.

In this description there is no doubt a certain amount of truth; but it
is mixed probably with a good deal of exaggeration. There is no reason
to believe that the climate or character of the country has undergone
any important alteration between the time of Nearchus or Strabo and the
present day. At present it is certain that the tract in question answers
but very incompletely to the description which those writers give of it.
Three regions may indeed be distinguished, though the natives seem now
to speak of only two; but none of them corresponds at all exactly to the
accounts of the Greeks. The coast tract is represented with the nearest
approach to correctness. This is, in fact, a region of arid plain, often
impregnated with salt, ill-watered, with a poor soil, consisting either
of sand or clay, and productive of little besides dates and a few
other fruits. A modern historian says of it that "it bears a greater
resemblance in soil and climate to Arabia than to the rest of Persia."
It is very hot and unhealthy, and can at no time have supported more
than a sparse and scanty population. Above this, towards the north, is
the best and most fertile portion of the territory. A mountain tract,
the continuation of Zagros, succeeds to the flat and sandy coast region,