to the south, is Imamsadeh-Yahiya, a mosque mausoleum, from which a mushtehid says that valuable tiles are stolen to be sold to Europeans in Teheran. Such plundering is a greater disgrace to the purchasers than stealing. Another mosque tomb is called Imamsadeh-Abdullah, but it has no tiles and is in a state of thorough decay, with the exception of its central cupola and the walls which support its vault. Close to the large mosque is Seid Abdul Hassan, a small mausoleum with a cupola, and two other tombs called Sekkin-i-Banu and Imamsadeh-Kharabe. Further, may be noticed the ruins of a fort constructed of clay, as well as numerous walls and houses which, however, certainly date from later periods. That Veramin has now sunk to an insignificant village is due, first and foremost, to the general decline of Persia and its bad administration, but is also connected with the neglect of irrigation and the supineness of the people.
I noted down the names of not fewer than fifty villages in this district, watered by the Jaje-rud, which yet seems to be so deserted and abandoned. A large canal branches off into innumerable and ever smaller threads until the water reaches the various villages and their arable fields. If it snows hard in winter the water-supply is abundant in the following spring, the condition of the people is improved, and the cost of living is diminished. After a dry winter there is scarcity and a dear season. The present year was less favourable than the preceding. There is always less snow in Veramin than in Teheran, as might be expected, since Teheran lies higher and nearer the mountains. Last year it had snowed twelve times in Teheran and only five times in Veramin. This year it had snowed twice in Teheran but not at all in Veramin ; instead, the village had experienced a strong north-westerly wind, which dried up everything. However, it seldom snows before January and February, and in March the precipitation takes the form of rain. Only spring and autumn bring rain, while in summer it hardly rains at all.
My trustworthy informant believed that Veramin had about 500 inhabitants, but in the district around and on the way down to the Siah-kuh there were nomads from
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