PERSIA. 



PERU. 



623 



which had been concluded between England 

 and Turkey for the protection of Asia Minor. 

 The Shah had begun to prepare an expedition 

 for the occupation of Afghan Seistan, and 

 eventually of Herat, even before receiving the 

 British proposals. The expedition was, how- 

 ever, abandoned about the first of March, on 

 the ground of the expense, and because politi- 

 cal difficulties, which the country was not pre- 

 pared to face, would be likely to result if it 

 were persevered in. In April the Persian 

 Government decided not to accept the English 

 offer. Several tribes of Kurds rose in insur- 

 rection early in September, and were immedi- 

 ately joined by bodies of men from Turkish 

 Kurdistan. The reenforcemsnts were sent by 

 the Turkish Kurdish Sheik Abdullah, and were 

 commanded by his sons ; and the whole move- 

 ment appears to have been inspired by that 

 chief, and under his direction. The Sheik Ab- 

 dullah was regarded by the Kurds as a kind of 

 national saint or great prophet, and was held 

 in exalted esteem by the Sunni Moslems of 

 Turkey and Arabia, and even in Africa, as the 

 third dignitary of the Faith, being next in 

 rank to the Shereef of Mecca. He was really 

 a man of much ability and tact. He had in 

 the previous year resisted the collection of 

 taxes in the Kurdish district by the Governor 

 of Ooroomiah, and had compelled him to agree 

 to a compromise in the matter. In the present 

 year he had endeavored by negotiations to 

 have those districts placed under his own con- 

 trol on condition of his guaranteeing their 

 revenues to the Persian Government, but having 

 failed, had decided to make war. A force of 

 eight or ten thousand men under Sheik Abd- 

 el-Kadir entered Persian territory, swept 

 through the districts of Sooldooz, Foshnoo, 

 and Sonj Boolak without interruption, being 

 furnished with provisions by the populations on 

 the route, and marched toward Tabreez. A 

 second division was collected near Ooroomiah, 

 with the view of operating against that posi- 

 tion, and a third division was assembled north 

 of Ooroomiah, to proceed to Tabreez by the 

 northern shores of Lake Ooroomiah. The 

 Persian Government ordered the dispatch from 

 different places of twelve battalions of in- 

 fantry, two thousand cavalry, and twelve guns, 

 under the command of Hishmet-ed-Dowleh, 

 uncle of the Shah. The nearest of the points 

 at which troops could be got was, however, 

 ten days' march from the scene of the rebel- 

 lion, and it was not easy to collect troops. The 

 inhabitants of Soutch Bulak, the governor of 

 which place had fled on the approach of the 

 insurrectionists, submitted to the Kurds. The 

 town of Mirandoab and four large villages were 

 pillaged by them, and their inhabitants mas- 

 sacred ; and more than one hundred villages, 

 it was said, were ravaged. The Sheik Ab- 

 dullah issued a proclamation calling upon the 

 Turkish and Persian Kurds to unite as an inde- 

 pendent nation, with himself as their sovereign, 

 and he made overtures to the Nestorian Chris- 



tians to join with him in an effort to expel the 

 Turkish and Persian rulers from tlio country. 

 He also professed to entertain a high regard 

 for the English, and sought to cultivate friendly 

 relations with the American iiiis.-iemark's for 

 the sake of their influence with the British 

 Consuls, assuring them that he would rule- im- 

 partially as between Moslems and Christians. 

 The Christians, who lived near his stronghold, 

 testified that his recent treatment of them had 

 been good. Abdullah, it was said, also sent 

 messengers to the brother of the Shah, who 

 was supposed to be hostile to his Majesty, with 

 an invitation to him to put himself at the head 

 of the movement and establish a separate 

 sovereignty. The prince immediately took 

 the letter of invitation and the messengers to 

 the Shah. The Persian Government appealed 

 to Russia for help against the Kurds, and the 

 Government of St. Petersburg, in response, in- 

 structed the Russian commanders on the fron- 

 tier to furnish aid under certain limitations, but 

 strictly forbade any violation of Turkish terri- 

 tory. A besieging army of Kurds assaulted 

 Ooroomiah in October, but was repulsed by 

 the garrison with heavy loss. It then raised 

 the siege and retired, and the forces on the op- 

 posite side of the lake surrendered to the of- 

 ficer comm mding the Persian troops. The 

 principal body of Kurds twice attacked the 

 Persians at Beenab, and was repulsed, after 

 which it retreated. The British consul started 

 from Ooroomiah for Tabreez through a dis- 

 trict which had been occupied by the Kurds 

 in force, and the insurrection was then pro- 

 nounced at an end. 



The famine which prevailed in Turkish Ar- 

 menia during the spring and early summer ex- 

 tended also into Persia, and became severe in 

 the Province of Azerbaijan. Six hundred 

 deaths from starvation were reported in the 

 district of Ooroomiah from January to May, 

 and twelve hundred Christians were compelled 

 to leave the country. The British consul- 

 general at Tabreez wrote in June that ''the 

 condition of the people was desperate, that 

 deaths were occurring daily at a frightful rate," 

 and gave a graphic picture of intense suffering 

 among all the people of the poorer classes. 



The cultivation of opium has been greatly 

 developed in Persia within a few years. For- 

 merly the Persian opium was much adulter- 

 ated and held in low esteem in the Chinese 

 market. It has more recently been prepared 

 pure, and the price at which it is sold has been 

 nearly doubled. Before 1875 the annual prod- 

 uct of opium was only about two thousand 

 cases of one hundred and forty pounds each. 

 The product for 1878-79 rose to 6,700 cases, 

 and that for 1879-'80 was estimated at the 

 same amount. 



PERU (REPtiBLiCA DEL PERfJ). Statements 

 of the territorial division, area, population, 

 etc., have been given in the " Annual Cyclo- 

 paedia " for 1873, 1875, 1878, and in the article 

 BOLIVIA, in the volume for 1879. 



