Demavend has long been asleep, but the great earthquakes of 1891, 1893 and 1895 in Astrabad and Kuchan to the eastward, and Khalkhal in the north-west, show that its underground fires are still alight. The scene of the last is about one hundred miles north-east of the old volcanic region of Afshar, remarkable for its remains of vast 'cinter' cones, formed by the flowing geysers of long, long ago, and which were shattered and scattered by some mighty explosion, when the great geysers boiled up and burst their walls. Here is seen the Takht-i-Sulimân, a ruined fort of very ancient date, which local tradition describes as one of King Solomon's royal residences, shared by his Queen, Belghéiz (of Sheba), whose summer throne is also shown on a mountain height above. This ruin incloses a flowing geyser of tepid sea-green water, about 170 feet deep, the temperature of which was 66° when I visited the place in 1892. Near it is the Zindân-i-Sulimân (Solomon's Dungeon), an extinct geyser, 350 feet deep. It shows as a massive 'cinter' cone, 440 feet high, standing prominently up in the plain. This district was visited and fully described by the late Sir Henry Rawlinson, and a further account of it has been given by Mr. Theodore Bent, who, with Mrs. Bent, went there in 1889. The volcanic district of Afshar has long been known for its quicksilver, which from time to time has been found in small quantities. Some seven or eight hundred years ago Arab miners laboured long in their search for the main cinnabar vein which undoubtedly lies hidden there, and their wide workings in laying open a whole hillside, where signs of cinnabar are still seen, show what great gangs of labourers they must have had at their command. The Persian Mines Corporation in 1891-92 engaged in operations at the same point, but, after considerable sinking of shafts and driving of galleries into the heart of the hill, they decided to cease work, being disappointed, like their Arab predecessors, in not finding quickly what they had traced by clear signs up to its mountain source. A few miles below the site of these cinnabar-mine operations there are ancient gold-washing workings, and within thirty miles are heavy veins of quartz.