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.