It lies in a plain bounded, except westward, where it opens on Osaka Bay, by hills of considerable height, on both sides of the Yodogawa, or rather its headwater the Aji (the outlet of Lake Biwa), and is so intersected by riverbranches and canals as to suggest a comparison with a Dutch town.
The foreign settlement is at Kawaguchi at the junction of the Shirinashi and the Aji.
The principal rivers are the Aras and Kizil Uzain, both receiving numerous tributaries and flowing into the Caspian, and the Jaghatu, Tatava, Murdi, Aji and others, which drain into the Urmia lake.
The alluvial valley of the Guayas, above Guayaquil, is celebrated for the richness of its vegetation, which, in fruit alone, includes cacao, coffee, coco-nuts, pine-apples, oranges, lemons, guayavas (Psidium pomiferum), guavas (Inga spectabilis), shaddocks (or grape-fruit), pomegranates, apricots, chirimoyas (Anooa Chirimolia), granadillas (Passiflora quadrangularis), paltas (Persea gratissima, otherwise known as " alligator pears "), tunas (Cactus), mangoes (Man,gifera Indica), pacays (Prosopis dulcis), aji (Chile pepper), and many others of less importance.