A beautiful lake, eighty miles long and thirty broad, and four thousand feet above the level of the sea, is its boundary on the east, and a chain of snow-covered mountains bounds it on the west.
The water of the lake is so salt and bituminous that fish cannot live in it, while its shores are enlivened by numerous water-fowl, of which the beautiful flamingo is most conspicuous.1 The plain contains about three hundred villages and hamlets, and is covered with fields, gardens, and vineyards, which are irrigated by streams from the mountains.

The landscape is one of the most lovely in the East, and its effect is heightened by its contrast with the adjacent heights, on which not a solitary tree is to be seen.

Along the water-courses are willows, poplars, and sycamores; and the peach, apricot, pear, plum, and other fruits impart to large sections the appearance of a forest.

Near the centre of the plain, four hundred feet above the lake, stands the city of Oroomiah.

It dates from a remote antiquity, and claims to be the birthplace of Zoroaster.