It is evident that an Empire which extended over more than twenty
degrees of latitude, touching on the one hand the tropic of Cancer,
while it reached upon the other to the parallel of Astrakan, and which
at the same time varied in elevation, from 20,000 feet above to 1300
below the sea level, must have comprised within it great differences of
climate, and have boasted an immense variety of productions. No general
description can be applicable to such a stretch of territory; and it
will therefore be necessary to speak of the various parts of the
Empire successively in order to convey to the reader a true idea of
the climatic influences to which it was subject, and the animals,
vegetables, and minerals which it produced.
Commencing with Persia Proper, the original seat and home of the race
with whose history we are specially concerned at present, we may observe
that it was regarded by the ancients as possessing three distinct
climates--one along the shore, dry and scorchingly hot; another in the
mountain region beyond, temperate and delightful; and a third in the
tract further inland, which was thought to be disagreeably cold and
wintry. Moderns, on the contrary, find two climates only in Fars--one
that of the Desbistan or “low country,” extremely hot and dry,
with frequent scorching and oppressive winds from the south and the
south-east; the other, that of the highlands, which is cold in winter,
but in summer pleasant and enjoyable. In the Deshistan snow never falls,
and there is but little rain; heavy dews, however, occur at night, so
that the mornings are often fresh and cool; but the middle of the day
is almost always hot, and from March to November the temperature at noon
ranges from 90° to 100° of Fahrenheit. Occasionally it reaches 125°, and
is then fearfully oppressive. Fierce gusts laden with sand sweep over
the plain, causing vegetation to droop or disappear, and the animal
world to hide itself. Man with difficulty retains life at these trying
times, feeling a languor and a depression of spirits which are barely
supportable.10 All who can do so quit the plains and betake themselves
to the upland region till the great heats are past, and the advance of
autumn brings at any rate cool nights and mornings. The climate of the
uplands is severe in winter. Much snow falls, and the thermometer often
marks from ten to fifteen degrees of frost. From time to time there are
furious gales, and, as the spring advances, a good deal of wet falls;
but the summer and autumn are almost rainless. The heat towards midday
is often considerable, but it is tempered by cool winds, and even at the
worst is not relaxing. The variations of temperature are great in the
twenty-four hours, and the climate is, so far, trying; but, on the
whole, it seems to be neither disagreeable nor unhealthy.
A climate resembling that of the Deshtistan prevailed along the entire
southern coast of the Empire, from the mouth of the Tigris to that of
the Indus. It was exchanged in the lower valleys of the great streams
for a damp close heat, intolerably stifling and oppressive. The upper
valleys of these streams and the plains into which they expanded were at
once less hot and less moist, but were subject to violent storms, owing
to the near vicinity of the mountains. In the mountains themselves, in
Armenia and Zagros, and again in the Elburz, the climate was of a more
rigorous character--intensely cold in winter, but pleasant in the summer
time. [PLATE XXVII., Fig. 3.] Asia Minor enjoyed generally a warmer
climate than the high mountain regions; and its western and southern
coasts, being fanned by fresh breezes from the sea, or from the hills
of the interior, and cooled during the whole of the summer by frequent
showers, were especially charming. In Syria and Egypt the heats of
summer were somewhat trying, more especially in the Ghor or depressed
Jordan valley, and in the parts of Egypt adjoining on Ethiopia; but the
winters were mild, and the springs and autumns delightful. The rarity of
rain in Egypt was remarkable, and drew the attention of foreigners,
who recorded, in somewhat exaggerated terms, the curious meteorological
phenomenon. In the Cyrenaica there was a delicious summer climate--an
entire absence of rain, with cool breezes from the sea, cloudy skies,
and heavy dews at night, these last supplying the moisture which through
the whole of summer covered the ground with the freshest and loveliest
verdure. The autumn and winter rains were, however, violent; and
terrific storms were at that time of no unusual occurrence. The natives
regarded it as a blessing, that over this part of Africa the sky was
“pierced,” and allowed moisture to fall from the great reservoir of
“waters above the firmament;” but the blessing must have seemed one of
questionable value at the time of the November monsoon, when the country
is deluged with rain for several weeks in succession.
On the opposite side of the Empire, towards the north and the
north-east, in Azerbijan, on the Iranian plateau, in the Afghan plains,
in the high flat region east of the Bolor, and again in the low plain
about the Aral lake and the Caspian, a severe climate prevailed during
the winter, while the summer combined intense heat during the day with
extraordinary cold--the result of radiation--at night. Still more bitter
weather was experienced in the mountain regions of these parts--in
the Bolor, the Thian Chan, the Himalaya, and the Paropamisus or Hindu
Kush--where the winters lasted more than half the year, deep snow
covering the ground almost the whole of the time, and locomotion being
rendered almost impossible; while the summers were only moderately hot.
On the other hand, there was in this quarter, at the very extreme
east of the Empire, one of the most sultry and disagreeable of all
climates--namely, that of the Indus valley, which is either intolerably
hot and dry, with fierce tornadoes of dust that are unspeakably
oppressive, or close and moist, swept by heavy storms, which, while
they somewhat lower the temperature, increase the unhealthiness of the
region. The worst portion of the valley is its southern extremity, where
the climate is only tolerable during three months of the year. From
March to November the heat is excessive; dust-storms prevail; there are
dangerous dews at night; and with the inundation, which commences in
April, a sickly time sets in, which causes all the wealthier classes
to withdraw from the country till the stagnant water, which the swell
always leaves behind it, has dried up.
Upon the whole, the climate of the Empire belonged to the warmer class
of the climates which are called temperate. In a few parts only, indeed,
as in the Indus valley, along the coast from the mouth of the Indus
to that of the Tigris, in Lower Babylonia and the adjoining portion
of Susiana, in Southern Palestine, and in Egypt, was frost absolutely
unknown; while in many places, especially in the high mountainous
regions, the winters were bitterly severe; and in all the more elevated
portions of the Empire, as in Phrygia and Cappadocia, in Azerbijan, on
the great Iranian plateau, and again in the district about Kashgar and
Yarkand, there was a prolonged period of sharp and bracing weather. But
the summer warmth of almost the whole Empire was great, the thermometer
probably ranging in most places from 90° to 120° during the months of
June, July, August, and September. The springs and autumns were, except
in the high mountain tracts, mild and enjoyable; the Empire had few very
unhealthy districts; while the range of the thermometer was in most of
the provinces considerable, and the variations in the course of a single
day and night were unusually great, there was in the climate, speaking
generally, nothing destructive of human vigor--nothing even inimical to
longevity.
The vegetable productions of Persia Proper in ancient times (so far as
we have direct testimony on the subject) were neither numerous nor very
remarkable. The low coast tract supplied dates in tolerable plenty,
and bore in a few favored spots, corn, vines, and different kinds of
fruit-trees; but its general character was one of extreme barrenness.
In the mountain region there was an abundance of rich pasture, excellent
grapes were grown, and fruit-trees of almost every sort, except the
olive, flourished. One fruit-tree, regarded as indigenous in the
country, acquired a special celebrity, and was known to the Romans
as the persica, whence the German Pfirsche, the French peche, and our
“peach.” Citrons, which grew in few places, were also a Persian fruit.
Further, Persia produced a coarse kind of silphium or assafoetida; it
was famous for its walnuts, which were distinguished by the epithet
of “royal”; and it supplied to the pharmacopeia of Greece and Rome a
certain number of herbs.
The account of Persian vegetable products which we derive from antiquity
is no doubt very incomplete; and it is necessary to supplement it from
the observations of modern travellers. These persons tell us that, while
Fars and Kerman are ill-supplied with forest-trees, they yet produce in
places oaks, planes, chenars or sycamores, poplars, willows, pinasters,
cypresses, acacias, fan-palms, konars, and junipers. Among shrubs, they
bear the wild fig, the wild almond, the tamarisk, the myrtle, the box,
the rhododendron, the camel’s thorn, the gum tragacanth, the caper
plant, the benneh, the blackberry, and the liquorice-plant. They boast a
great abundance of fruit-trees--as date-bearing palms, lemons, oranges,
pomegranates, vines, peaches, nectarines, apricots, quinces, pears,
apples, plums, figs, cherries, mulberries, barberries, walnuts, almonds,
and pistachio-nuts. The kinds of grain chiefly cultivated are wheat,
barley, millet, rice, and Indian corn or maize, which has been imported
into the country from America. Pulse, beans, sesame, madder, henna,
cotton, opium, tobacco, and indigo, are also grown in some places. The
three last-named, and maize or Indian corn, are of comparatively recent
introduction; but of the remainder it may be doubted whether there is a
single one which was unknown to the ancient inhabitants.
Among Persian indigenous animals may be enumerated the lion, the bear,
the wild ass, the stag, the antelope, the ibex or wild goat, the wild
boar, the hyena, the jackal, the wolf, the fox, the hare, the porcupine,
the otter, the jerboa, the ichneumon, and the marmot. The lion appears
to be rare, occurring only in some parts of the mountains. The ichneumon
is confined to the Deshtistan. The antelope, the wild boar, the wolf,
the fox, the jackal, the porcupine, and the jerboa are common. Wild
asses are found only on the northern side of the mountains, towards the
salt desert. In this tract they are frequently seen, both singly and in
herds, and are hunted by the natives, who regard their flesh as a great
delicacy.
The most remarkable of the Persian birds are the eagle, the vulture, the
cormorant, the falcon, the bustard, the pheasant, the heath-cock, the
red-legged partridge, the small gray partridge, the pin tailed grouse,
the sand-grouse, the francolin, the wild swan, the flamingo, the stork,
the bittern, the oyster-catcher, the raven, the hooded crow, and
the cuckoo. Besides these, the lakes boast all the usual kinds of
water-fowl, as herons, ducks, snipe, teal, etc.; the gardens and groves
abound with blackbirds, thrushes, and nightingales; curlews and peewits
are seen occasionally; while pigeons, starlings, crows, magpies, larks,
sparrows, and swallows are common. The francolin is hunted by men on
foot in the country between Shiraz and Kerman, and is taken by the hand
after a few flights. The oyster-catcher, which is a somewhat rare bird,
has been observed only on Lake Neyriz. The bustard occurs both in the
low plain along the coast, and on the high plateau, where it is captured
by means of hawks. The pheasant and the heath-cock (the latter a black
species spotted with white) are found in the woods near Failyun. The
sand-grouse and the pin-tailed grouse belong to the eastern portion
of the country, the portion known anciently as Carmania or “the hot
region.” The other kinds are diffused pretty generally.
The shores and rivers of Persia Proper supplied the people very
plentifully with fish. The ancient writers tell us that the inhabitants
of the coast tract lived almost wholly on a fish diet. The Indian Sea
appears in those days to have abounded with whales, which were not
unfrequently cast upon the shores, affording a mine of wealth to the
natives. The great ribs were used as beams in the formation of huts,
while the jaws served as doors and the smaller bones as planking.
Dolphins also abounded in the Persian waters; together with many other
fish of less bulk, which were more easy to capture. On these smaller
fish, which they caught in nets, the maritime inhabitants subsisted
principally. They had also an unfailing resource in the abundance of
oysters, and other shell-fish along their coast--the former of excellent
quality.
In the interior, though the lakes, being salt or brackish, had no
piscatory stores, the rivers were, for the most part, it would seem,
well provided; at least, good fish are still found in many of the
streams, both small and large; and in some they are exceedingly
plentiful. Modern travellers fail to distinguish the different kinds;
but we may presume that they are not very unlike those of the adjoining
Media, which appear to be trout, carp, barbel, dace, bleak, and gudgeon.
The reptiles of Persia Proper are not numerous. They are chiefly
tortoises, lizards, frogs, land-snakes, and water-snakes. The
land-snakes are venomous, but their poison is not of a very deadly
character; and persons who have been bitten by them, if properly
treated, generally recover. The lizards are of various sizes, some quite
small, others more than three feet long, and covered with a coarse rough
skin like that of a toad. They have the character of being venomous, and
even dangerous to life; but it may be doubted whether they are not, like
our toads and newts, in reality perfectly harmless.
The traveller in Persia suffers less from reptiles than from insects.
Scorpions abound in all parts of the country, and, infesting houses,
furniture, and clothes, cause perpetual annoyance. Mosquitoes swarm
in certain places and seasons, preventing sleep and irritating the
traveller almost beyond endurance. A poisonous spider, a sort of
tarantula, is said to occur in some localities; and Chardin further
mentions a kind of centipede, the bite of which, according to him, is
fatal. To the sufferings which these creatures cause, must be added a
constant annoyance from those more vulgar forms of insect life which
detract from the delights of travel even in Europe.
Persia, moreover, suffers no less than Babylonia and Media, from the
ravages of locusts. Constantly, when the wind is from the south-east,
there cross from the Arabian coast clouds of these destructive insects,
whose numbers darken the air as they move, in flight after flight,
across the desert to the spots where nature or cultivation has clothed
the earth with verdure. The Deshtistan, or low country, is, of course,
most exposed to their attacks, but they are far from being confined to
that region. The interior, as far as Shiraz itself, suffers terribly
from this scourge, which produces scarcity, or even famine, when (as
often happens) it is repeated year after year. The natives at such times
are reduced to feeding on the locusts themselves; a diet which they do
not relish, but to which necessity compels them.
The locusts of Persia Proper are said to be of two kinds. One, which
is regarded as bred in the country, bears the name of _missri_, being
identified with the locust of Egypt. The other, which is thought to
be blown over from Arabia, and thus to cross the sea, is known as the
_melelch deriai_, or “sea-locust.” The former is regarded as especially
destructive to the crops, the latter to the shrubs and trees.
The domestic animals in use at the present day within the provinces of
Fars and Kerman are identical with those employed in the neighboring
country of Media, and will need only a very few words of notice here.
The ordinary horse of the country is the Turcoman, a large, strong, but
somewhat clumsy animal, possessed of remarkable powers of endurance;
but in the Deshtistan the Arabian breed prevails, and travellers tell us
that in this region horses are produced which fall but little short of
the most admired coursers of Nejd. Cows and oxen are somewhat rare, beef
being little eaten, and such cattle being only kept for the supply
of the dairy, and for purposes of agriculture. Sheep and goats are
abundant, and constitute the chief wealth of the inhabitants; the goat
is, on the whole, preferred, and both goats and sheep are generally of
a black or brown color. The sheep of Kerman are small and short-legged;
they produce a wool of great softness and delicacy.
It is probable that in ancient times the domestic animals of the country
were nearly the same as at the present day. The statement of Xenophon,
that anciently a horse was a rarity in Persia Proper, is contradicted by
the great bulk of the early writers, who tell us that the Persians were
from the first expert riders, and that their country was peculiarly well
fitted for the breeding of horses. Their camels, sheep, goats, asses,
and oxen, are also expressly mentioned by the Greeks, who even indicate
a knowledge of the fact that goats were preferred to sheep by the
herdsmen of the country.
The mineral treasures of the country appear to have been considerable,
though to what extent they were known and made use of in ancient times
is open to some question. Mines of gold, silver, copper, iron, red lead,
and orpiment are said to have been actually worked under the Persian
kings; and some of the other minerals were so patent and obvious, that
we can scarcely suppose them to have been neglected. Salt abounded in
the region in several shapes. It appeared in some places as rock salt,
showing itself in masses of vast size and various colors. In other
places it covered the surface of the ground for miles together with a
thick incrustation, and could be gathered at all seasons with little
labor. It was deposited by the waters of several lakes within the
territory, and could be collected round their edges at certain times
of the year. Finally, it was held in solution, both in the lakes and in
many of the streams; from whose waters it might have been obtained by
evaporation. Bitumen and naphtha were yielded by sources near Dalaki,
which were certainly known to the ancients. Sulphur was deposited upon
the surface of the ground in places. Some of the mountains contained
ordinary lead; but it is not unlikely that this metal escaped notice.
Ancient Persia produced a certain number of gems. The pearls of
the Gulf, which have still so great a reputation, had attracted the
attention of adventurers before the time of Alexander, whose naval
captains found a regular fishery established in one of the islands. The
Orientals have always set a high value on this commodity; and it appears
that in ancient times the Gulf pearls were more highly esteemed than any
others. Of hard stones the only kinds that can be distinctly assigned to
Persia Proper are the iritis, a species of rock-crystal; the atizoe, a
white stone which had a pleasant odor; the mithrax, a gem of many hues,
the nipparene, which resembled ivory; and the the lycardios or mule,
which was in special favor among the natives of the country.
From this account of the products of Persia Proper we have now to pass
to those of the Empire in general--a wide subject, which it will be
impossible to treat here with any completeness, owing to the limits to
which the present work is necessarily confined. In order to bring the
matter within reasonable compass, the reader may be referred in the
first instance to the account which was given in a former volume of the
products of the empire of Babylon; and the enquiry may then be confined
to those regions which were subject to Persia, but not contained within
the limits of the Fourth Monarchy.
Among the animals belonging to these regions, the following are
especially noticeable:--The tiger, the elephant, the hippopotamus, the
crocodile, the monitor, the two-humped camel, the Angora goat, the elk,
the monkey, and the spotted hysena, or _Felis chaus_. The tiger, which
is entirely absent from Mesopotamia, and unknown upon the plateau of
Iran, abounds in the low tract between the Elburz and the Caspian, in
the flat region about the Sea of Aral, and in the Indus valley. The
elephant was, perhaps, anciently an inhabitant of Upper Egypt, where the
island of Elephantine remained an evidence of the fact. It was also in
Persian times a denizen of the Indus valley, though perhaps only in a
domesticated state. The hippopotamus, unknown in India, was confined to
the single province of Egypt, where it was included among the animals
which were the objects of popular worship. The crocodile--likewise a
sacred animal to the Egyptians--frequented both the Nile and the Indus.
Monitors, which are a sort of diminutive crocodiles, were of two kinds:
one, the _Lacerta Nilotica_, was a water animal, and was probably found
only in Egypt; the other, _Lacerta scincus_, frequented dry and sandy
spots, and abounded in North Africa and Syria, as well as in the Nile
valley. The two-humped camel belonged to Bactria, where he was probably
indigenous, but was widely spread over the Empire, on account of his
great strength and powers of endurance.
The Angora goat is, perhaps, scarcely a distinct species. If not
identical with the ordinary wild goat of Persia and Mesopotamia (_Capra
cegagrus_), he is at any rate closely allied to it; and it is possible
that all his peculiar characteristics may be the effect of climate. He
has a soft, white, silky fleece, very long, divided down the back by
a strong line of separation, and falling on either side in beautiful
spiral ringlets; his fleece weighs from two to four pounds. It is
of nearly uniform, length, and averages from five to five and a half
inches.
The elk is said to inhabit Armenia, Affghanistan, and the lower part of
the valley of the Indus; but it is perhaps not certain that he is really
to be found in the two latter regions. Monkeys abound in Eastern Oabul
and the adjoining parts of India. They may have also existed formerly
in Upper Egypt. The spotted hyena, _Felis chaus_ (_Canis crocuta_ of
Linnaeus), is an Egyptian animal, inhabiting principally the hills on
the western side of the Nile. In appearance it is like a large cat,
with a tuft of long black hair at the extremities of its ears--a feature
which it has in common with the lynx.
Among the rarer birds of the Empire may be mentioned the ostrich, which
occurred in Mesopotamia; parrots, which were found in Cabul and the
Punjab; ibises, which abounded in Egypt, and in the Delta of the Indus,
the great vulture (Vultur cinereus), which inhabited the Taurus, the
Indian owl (_Athena Indica_), the spoonbill (_Platalea nudifrons_); the
benno (_Ardea bubulcus_), and the sicsac (_Charadrius melanocephalus_).
The most valuable of the fish belonging to the Persian seas and rivers
were the pearl oyster of the Gulf, and the murex of the Mediterranean,
which furnished the famous purple dye of Tyre. After these may be placed
the sturgeon and sterlet of the Caspian, the silurus of the Sea of Aral,
the Aleppo eel, and the palla, a small but excellent fish, which is
captured in the Indus during the flood season. The Indian Ocean and
the Persian Gulf, as we have seen, were visited by whales; dolphins,
porpoises, cod, and mullet abounded in the same seas; the large rivers
generally contained barbel and carp; while some of them, together with
many of the smaller streams, supplied trout of a good flavor. The
Nile had some curious fish peculiar to itself, as the oxyrinchus,
the lepidotus, the Perca Nilotica, the Silurus Schilbe Niloticus, the
Silurus carmuth and others. Great numbers of fish, mostly of the same
species with those of the Nile, were also furnished by the Lake Moeris;
and from these a considerable revenue was derived by the Great Kings.
Among the more remarkable of the reptiles which the Empire comprised
within its limits may be noticed--besides the great saurians already
mentioned among the larger animals--the Nile and Euphrates turtles
(_Trionyx Egypticus_ and _Trionyx Euphraticus_), iguanas (_Stellio
vulgaris_ and _Stellio spinipes_), geckos, especially the Egyptian house
gecko (_O. lobatus_), snakes, such as the asp (_Coluber haje_) and
the horned snake (_Coluber cerastes_), and the chameleon. The Egyptian
turtle is a large species, sometimes exceeding three feet in length. It
is said to feed on the young of the crocodile. Both it and the Euphrates
turtle are of the soft kind, i.e., of the kind which has not the shell
complete, but unites the upper and under portions by a coriaceous
membrane. The turtle of the Euphrates is of moderate size, not exceeding
a a length of two feet. It lives in the river, and on warm days suns
itself on the sandbanks with which the stream abounds. It is active,
strong, violent, and passionate. When laid on its back it easily
recovers itself. If provoked, it will snap at sticks and other objects,
and endeavor to tear them to pieces. It is of an olive-green color, with
large irregular greenish black spots.
Iguanas are found in Egypt, in Syria, and elsewhere. The most common
kind (_Stellio vulgaris_) does not exceed a foot in length, and is of
an olive color, shaded with black. It is persecuted and killed by the
Mahometans, because they regard its favorite attitude as a derisive
imitation of their own attitude of prayer. There is another species,
also Egyptian, which is of a much larger size, and of a grass-green
color. This is called _Stellio spinipes_: it has a length of from two to
three feet.
The gecko is a kind of nocturnal lizard. Its eyes are large, and the
pupil is extremely contractile. It hides itself during the day, and is
lively only at nights. It haunts rooms, especially kitchens, in Egypt,
where it finds the insects which form its ordinary food. Its feet
constitute its most marked characteristic. The five toes are enlarged
and furnished with an apparatus of folds, which, by some peculiar
action, enable it to adhere to perfectly smooth surfaces, to ascend
perpendicular walls, cross ceilings, or hang suspended for hours on the
under side of leaves. The Egyptians called it the abu burs, or “father
of leprosy,” and there is a wide-spread belief in its poisonous
character; but modern naturalists incline to regard the belief as
unfounded, and to place the gecko among reptiles which are absolutely
harmless. [PLATE XXVIII., Fig. 1.]
[Illustration: PLATE XXVIII.]
The asp of Egypt (_Coluber haje_) is a species of cobra. It is a large
snake, varying from three to six feet in length, and is extremely
venomous. It haunts gardens, where it is of great use, feeding on mice,
frogs, and various small reptiles. It has the power of greatly dilating
the skin of the neck, and this it does when angered in a way that is
very remarkable. Though naturally irritable, it is easily tamed; and the
serpent-charmers of the East make it the object of their art more often
than any other species. [PLATE XXVIII., Fig. 2.] After extracting the
fangs or burning out the poison-bag with a red-hot iron, the charmer
trains the animal by the shrill sounds of a small flute, and it is soon
perfectly docile.
The cerastes is also employed occasionally by the snake-charmers. It
has two long and thin excrescences above the eyes, whereto the name of
“horns” has been given: they stand erect, leaning a little backwards;
no naturalist has as yet discovered their use. The cerastes is of a
very pale brown color, and is spotted with large, unequal, and
irregularly-placed spots. Its bite is exceedingly dangerous, since it
possesses a virulent poison; and, being in the habit of nearly burying
itself in the sand, which is of the same color with itself, it is the
more difficult of avoidance. Its size also favors its escaping notice,
since in length it rarely much exceeds a foot. [PLATE XXVIII., Fig. 3.]
The chameleon has in all ages attracted the attention of mankind. It is
found in Egypt, and in many others parts of Africa, in Georgia, and in
India. The power of changing color which it possesses is not really its
most remarkable characteristic. Far more worthy of notice are its slow
pace, extraordinary form, awkward movements, vivacity, and control of
eye, and marvellous rapidity of tongue. It is the most grotesque of
reptiles. With protruding and telescopic eyes, that move at will in
the most opposite directions, with an ungainly head, a cold, dry,
strange-looking skin, and a prehensile tail, the creature slowly steals
along a branch or twig, scarcely distinguishable from the substance
along which it moves, and scarcely seeming to move at all, until it has
come within reach of its prey. Then suddenly, with a motion rapid as
that of the most agile bird, the long cylindrical and readily extensile
tongue is darted forth with unerring aim, and the prey is seized
and swallowed in a single moment of time. The ordinary color of the
chameleon is a pale olive-green. This sometimes fades to a sort of
ashen-gray, while sometimes it warms to a yellowish-brown, on which
are seen faint spots of red. Modern naturalists, for the most part,
attribute the changes to the action of the lungs, which is itself
affected chiefly by the emotions of anger, desire, and fear. [PLATE
XXVIII., Fig. 5.]
The great extent of the Empire caused its vegetable productions to
include almost all the forms known to the ancient world. On the one
hand, the more northern and more elevated regions bore pines, firs,
larches, oaks, birch, beech, ash, ilex, and junipers, together with the
shrubs and flowers of the cooler temperate regions; on the other
hand, the southern tracts grew palms of various kinds, mangoes,
tamarind-trees, lemons, oranges, jujubes, mimosas, and sensitive plants.
Between these extremes of tropical and cold-temperate products, the
Empire embraced an almost infinite variety of trees, shrubs, and
flowers. The walnut and the Oriental plane grew to avast size in many
places. Poplars, willows, fig-mulberries, konars, cedars, cypresses,
acacias, were common. Bananas, egg-plants, locust-trees, banyans,
terebinths, the gum-styrax, the gum-tragacanth, the assafoetida plant,
the arbor vitse, the castor-oil plant, the Judas-tree, and other
somewhat rare forms, sprang up side by side with the pomegranate,
the oleander, the pistachio-nut, the myrtle, the bay, the laurel, the
mulberry, the rhododendron, and the arbutus. The Empire grew all the
known sorts of grain, and almost all the known fruits. Among its various
productions of this class, it is only possible to select for notice
a few which were especially remarkable either for their rarity or for
their excellent quality.
The ancients celebrated the wheat of AEolis, the dates of Babylon,
the citrons of Media, the Persian peach, the grapes of Carmania,
the Hyrcanian fig, the plum of Damascus, the cherries of Pontus, the
mulberries of Egypt and of Cyprus, the silphium of Gyrene, the wine of
Helbon, the wild-grape of Syria. It is not unlikely that to these
might have been added as many other vegetable products of first-rate
excellence, had the ancients possessed as good a knowledge of the
countries included within the Empire as the moderns. At present, the
mulberries of Khiva, the apricots of Bokhara, the roses of Mexar, the
quinces and melons of Isfahan, the grapes of Kasvin and Shii-az, the
pears of Natunz, the dates of Dalaki, have a wide-spread reputation,
which appears in most cases to be well deserved. On the whole, it is
certain that for variety and excellence the vegetable products of the
Persian Empire will bear comparison with those of any other state or
community that has as yet existed, either in the ancient or the modern
world.
Two only of these products seem to deserve a longer description. The
Cyrenaic silphium, of which we hear so much, as constituting the main
wealth of that province, was valued chiefly for its medicinal qualities.
A decoction from its leaves was used to hasten the worst kind of labors;
its root and a juice which flowed from it were employed in a variety
of maladies. The plant, which is elaborately described by Theophrastus,
appears to have been successfully identified by modern travellers in
the Cyrenaica, who see it in the drias or derias of the Arabs, an
umbelliferous plant, which grows to a height of about three feet, has a
deleterious effect on the camels that browse on it, and bears a striking
resemblance to the representations of the ancient silphium upon
coins and medals. This plant grows only in the tract between Merj and
Derna--the very heart of the old silphium country, while that it has
medicinal properties is certain from its effects upon animals; there can
thus be little doubt that it is the silphium of the ancients, somewhat
degenerated, owing to want of cultivation.
The Egyptian byblus or papyrus (_Cyperus papyrus_) was perhaps the
most valuable of all the vegetables of the Empire. The plant was a
tall smooth reed of a triangular shape. It grew to the height of ten or
fifteen feet, and terminated in a tuft or plume of leaves and flowers.
Though indigenous in the country, it was the subject of careful
cultivation, and was grown in irrigated ground, or in such lands as were
naturally marshy. The root of the plant was eaten, while from its stem
was made the famous Egyptian paper. The manufacture of the papyrus was
as follows; The outer rind having been removed, there was exposed a
laminated interior, consisting of a number of successive layers of inner
cuticle, generally about twenty. These were carefully separated from
one another by the point of a needle, and thus were obtained a number
of strips of the raw material, which were then arranged in rows, covered
with a paste, and crossed at right angles by another set of strips
placed over them, after which the whole was converted into paper by
means of a strong pressure. A papyrus roll was made by uniting together
a greater or less number of such sheets. The best paper was made
from the inmost layers of cuticle. The outer rind of the papyrus was
converted into ropes; and this fabric was found to be peculiarly adapted
for immersion in water.
The mineral treasures of the Empire were various and abundant. It has
been noticed already that Persia Proper, if we include in it Carmania,
possessed mines of gold, silver, copper, iron, red lead, orpiment, and
salt, yielding also bitumen, naphtha, sulphur, and most probably common
lead. We are further informed by ancient writers that Drangiana, or
Sarangia, furnished the rare and valuable mineral tin, without which
copper could not be hardened into bronze; that Armenia yielded emery, so
necessary for the working and polishing of gems; that the mountains
and mines of the Empire supplied almost all the varieties of useful and
precious stones; and that thus there was scarcely a mineral known to and
required by the ancients for the purposes of their life which the Great
King could not command without having recourse to others than his own
subjects. It may be likewise noticed that the more important were very
abundant, being found in many places and in large quantities. Gold was
furnished from the mountains and deserts of Thibet and India, from the
rivers of Lydia, and probably from other places where it is still found,
as Armenia, Cabul, and the neighborhood of Meshed. Silver, which was
the general medium of exchange in Persia, must have been especially
plentiful. It was probably yielded, not only by the Kerman mines,
but also by those of Armenia, Asia Minor, and the Elburz. Copper was
obtained in great abundance from Cyprus, as well as from Carmania; and
it may have been also derived, as it is now in very large quantities,
from Armenia. Iron, really the most precious of all metals, existed
within the Persian territory in the shape of huge boulders, as well
as in nodules and in the form of ironstone. Lead was procurable from
Bactria, Armenia, Korman, and many parts of Affghanistan; orpiment
from Bactria, Kerman, and the Hazareh country; antimony from Armenia,
Affghanistan, and Media; hornblende, quartz, talc, and asbestos, from
various places in the Taurus.
Of all necessary minerals probably none was so plentiful and so widely
diffused as salt. It was not only in Persia Proper that nature had
bestowed this commodity with a lavish hand--there was scarcely
a province of the Empire which did not possess it in superfluous
abundance. Large tracts were covered by it in North Africa, in Media,
in Carmania, and in Lower Babylonia. In Asia Minor, Armenia, Syria,
Palestine, and other places, it could be obtained from lakes. In Kerman,
and again in Palestine, it showed itself in the shape of large masses,
not inappropriately termed “mountains.” Finally, in India it was the
chief material of a long mountain-range, which is capable of supplying
the whole world with salt for many ages.
Bitumen and naptha were also very widely diffused. At the eastern foot
of the Caucasus, where it subsides into the Caspian Sea, at various
points in the great Mesopotamian plain, in the Deshtistan or low country
of Persia Proper, in the Bakh-tiyari mountains, and again in the distant
Jordan valley, these two inseparable products are to be found, generally
united with indications of volcanic action, present or recent. The
bitumen is of excellent quality, and was largely employed by the
ancients. The naphtha is of two kinds, black naphtha or petroleum, and
white naphtha, which is much preferred to the other. The bitumen-pits
also, in some places, yielded salt.
Another useful mineral with which the Persians were very plentifully
supplied, was sulphur. Sulphur is found in Persia Proper, in Carmania,
on the coast of Mekran, in Azerbijan, in the Elburz, on the Iranian
plateau, in the vicinity of the Dead Sea, and in very large quantities
near Mosul. Here it is quarried in great blocks, which are conveyed to
considerable distances.
Excellent stone for building purposes was obtainable in most parts of
the Empire. Egypt furnished an inexhaustible supply of the best possible
granite; marbles of various kinds, compact sandstone, limestone, and
other useful sorts were widely diffused; and basalt was procurable from
some of the outlying ranges of Taurus. In the neighborhood of Nineveh,
and in much of the Mesopotamian region, there was abundance of grey
alabaster, and a better kind was quarried near Damascus. A gritty
silicious rock on the banks of the Euphrates, a little above Hit, was
suitable for mill-stones.
The gems furnished by the various provinces of the Empire are too
numerous for mention. They included, it must be remembered, all the
kinds which have already been enumerated among the mineral products of
the earlier Monarchies. Among them, a principal place must, one would
think, have been occupied by the turquoise--the gem, par excellence, of
modern Persia--although, strange to say, there is no certain mention
of it among the literary remains of antiquity. This lovely stone
is produced largely by the mines at Nishapur in the Elburz, and is
furnished also in less abundance and less beauty by a mine in Kerman,
and another near Khojend. It is noticed by an Arabian author as early as
the twelfth century of our era. A modern writer on gems supposes that it
is mentioned, though not named, by Theophrastus; but this view scarcely
seems to be tenable.
Among the gems of most value which the Empire certainly produced were
the emerald, the green ruby, the red ruby, the opal, the sapphire, the
amethyst, the carbuncle, the jasper, the lapis lazuli, the sard, the
agate, and the topaz. Emeralds were found in Egypt, Media, and Cyprus;
green rubies in Bactria; common or red rubies in Caria; opals in Egypt,
Cyprus, and Asia Minor; sapphires in Cyprus; amethysts also in Cyprus,
and moreover in Egypt, Galatia, and Armenia; carbuncles in Caria;
jaspers in Cyprus, Asia Minor, and Persia Proper; the lapis lazuli in
Cyprus, Egypt, and Media; the sard in Babylonia; the agate in Carmania,
Susiana, and Armenia; and the topaz or chrysoprase in Upper Egypt.
The tales which are told of enormous emeralds are undoubtedly fictions,
the material which passed for that precious substance being really in
these cases either green jasper or (more probably) glass. But lapis
lazuli and agate seem to have existed within the Empire in huge masses.
Whole cliffs of the former overhang the river Kashkar in Kaferistan; and
the myrrhine vases of antiquity which were (it is probable) of agate,
and came mainly from Carmania, seem to have been of a great size.
We may conclude this review by noticing, among stones of less
consequence produced within the Empire, jet, which was so called from
being found at the mouth of the river Gagis in Lycia, garnets, which are
common in Armenia, and beryl, which is a product of the same country.