the west, and Persia to the south, were all more or less formidable.
A prescient eye might have foreseen that the great struggles of
Media would be with these powers, and that if she attained imperial
proportions it must be by their subjugation or absorption.




CHAPTER II. CLIMATE AND PRODUCTIONS.


Media, like Assyria, is a country of such extent and variety that, in
order to give a correct description of its climate, we must divide it
into regions. Azerbijan, or Atropatene, the most northern portion, has
a climate altogether cooler than the rest of Media; while in the more
southern division of the country there is a marked difference between
the climate of the east and of the west, of the tracts lying on the
high plateau and skirting the Great Salt Desert, and of those contained
within or closely abutting upon the Zagros mountain range. The
difference here is due to the difference of physical conformation, which
is as great as possible, the broad mountainous plains about Kasvin,
Koum, and Kashan, divided from each other by low rocky ridges, offering
the strongest conceivable contrast to the perpetual alternations of
mountain and valley, precipitous height and deep wooded glen, which
compose the greater part of the Zagros region.

The climate of Azerbijan is temperate and pleasant, though perhaps
somewhat overwarm, in summer; while in winter it is bitterly severe,
colder than that of almost any other region in the same latitude. This
extreme rigor seems to be mainly owing to elevation, the very valleys