The principal lakes are the Lake of Neyriz and the Deriah-i-Nemek. The
Deriah-i-Nemek is a small basin distant about ten miles from Shiraz,
which receives the waters of the streams that supply that town. It has a
length of about fifteen and a breadth of about three or three and a half
miles. The lake of Neyriz or Kheir is of far larger size, being from
fifty to sixty miles long and from three to six broad, though in the
summer season it is almost entirely dried up. Salt is then obtained
from the lake in large quantities, and forms an important feature in the
commerce of the district. Smaller lakes, also salt or brackish, exist in
other parts of the country, as Lake Famur, near Kazerun, which is about
six miles in length, and from half a mile to a mile across.

The most remarkable feature of the country consists in the extraordinary
gorges which pierce the great mountain-chain, and render possible the
establishment of routes across that tremendous barrier. Scarped rocks
rise almost perpendicularly on either side of the mountain-streams,
which descend rapidly with frequent cascades and falls. Along the slight
irregularities of these rocks the roads are carried in zigzags, often
crossing the streams from side to side by bridges of a single arch,
which are thrown over profound chasms where the waters chafe and roar
many hundred feet below.46 [PLATE XXVI.] The roads have for the most
part been artificially cut in the sides of the precipices, which rise
from the streams sometimes to the height of 2000 feet. In order to cross
from the Persian Gulf to the high plateau of Iran, no fewer than three
or four of these kotuls, or strange gorge-passes, have to be traversed
successively. Thus the country towards the edge of the plateau is
peculiarly safe from attack, being defended on the north and east by
vast deserts, and on the south by a mountain-barrier of unusual strength
and difficulty.