PEESIA. 



669 



Cost of annual support ......................... $1,256,024 



Total number receiving support, June 1, 1870. . 8,796 



Native ..................................... 4,822 



White ...................................... 4,354 



Colored ..................................... 468 



Foreign .................................... 3,974 



Number of persons convicted during the year. 3,327 



Number of persons in prison, Jane 1, 1870 ..... 3,231 



Native ..................................... 2,352 



White ...................................... 2,088 



Colored ..................................... 444 



Foreign .................................... 699 



PERSIA, a country of Western Asia, called 

 by the natives Iran. The ruler of the country 

 has the title Shah (king), or Shahynshah 

 (king of kings). Eeigning sovereign, Nassr- 

 ed-Din, born in 1829, eldest son of Shah Mo- 

 hammed, succeeded to the throne at the death 

 of his father, September 10, 1848. The chil- 

 dren of the Shah are : Nuz-affer-ed-Din, heir- 

 apparent, born in 1850, and Djilal-ed-Danleh, 

 born in 1853. The Shah has the right of des- 

 ignating his successor to the throne. The area 

 (according to a recent planimetric calculation 

 made in the geographical institution of Perthes, 

 Gotha) is 635,963 square miles. The present 

 territory consists of the following parts : 



Persia before the incorporation of Seistan, Ko- jm e s. 



histan, the western part of the Mekran coast, 



and the possessions of Omam ................. 554,576 



Seistan .......................................... 7,229 



Parts of Kohistan formerly belonging to Af- 



ghanistan ..................................... 12,093 



Parts of Kohistan formerly belonging to Beloo- 



chistan ........................................ 60,913 



Coast districts recovered from the Imam of Omam 593 



Islands recovered from Omam ................... 559 



The islands recovered from Omam are : 

 Kishne, 515 square miles ; Ormus, 12 square 

 miles ; Angar, 10 square miles ; Harek, 22 

 square miles. 



The population is estimated at from 4,000,000 

 to 5,000,000. According to a carefully-made es- 

 timate furnished by the British secretary of 

 legation in May, 1868, the population of Per- 

 sia at that period was as follows : 

 Inhabitants of cities ........................... 1,000,000 



Population belonging to wandering tribes, 



Turkish, Koordish, Arab, etc ................ 1,700,000 



Agricultural population of villages and country 



"districts ..................................... 1,700,000 



Total .................................. 4,400,000 



The revenue of the Government, in 1868, 

 amounted to 4,912,500 tomans (a toman is va- 

 riously valued, but may be stated at three dol- 

 lars. The expenditures amounted in the same 

 year to 4,250,000 tomans. The Persian Gov- 

 ernment has no debt, and the royal treasury 

 is reputed to contain gold, jewels, and other 

 valuables, to the amount of 9,500,000 tomans. 

 The army of Persia is composed (according to 

 the Russian work, "Military Statistical Col- 

 lection," by Major-General Obrutchef. vol. iii., 

 1868) as follows : 

 I. Active army (Nizam). 



Ten divisions, or 100 regular regiments of 

 800 men each ............................ 



Three squadrons of regular cavalry (body- 

 guard of the Shah) ..................... . . 500 



Ten regiments of artillery, with 100 cannons 5,000 

 II. Reserve (Redif). Irregular cavalry, etc ..... 45,000 



, ..... 



III. Standing militia of the three provinces, As- 

 trabad, Mazenderan, and Gilan 



20,800 



Total ................................ ... 151,300 



Every regiment has 30 lieutenants, 40 sub- 

 lieutenants, and 760 privates. The Persian sol- 

 dier is liable to military service for his lifetime, 

 but frequently receives long furloughs. The 

 organization of the army is by provinces, tribes, 

 and districts. A district contributes one bat- 

 talion to the army, a tribe gives one, some- 

 times two regiments, and a province furnishes 

 several regiments. The Christians, Jews, and 

 Guebres, are exempt from all military service. 



The imports of Persia amount to about 

 $15,000,000 ; tlie exports to $7,000,000. The 

 chief import is cotton goods from England; 

 the chief articles of export, silk, opium, and 

 cotton. 



The large majority of the inhabitants are 

 Mohammedans, the greater portion of whom 

 belong to the sect of the Sheeah, which, since 

 the sixteenth century, has gradually gained the 

 ascendency in Persia, owing chiefly to the 

 support it has received from the dynasty of 

 the S6fees. The Sunnites, however, are nu- 

 merous among the nomadic tribes. The sect 

 of the Babi which was established about forty 

 years ago, continues to have numerous ad- 

 herents in spite of the most cruel persecutions 

 to which it has been exposed, and is said to 

 constitute at present a considerable portion of 

 the population. The Oriental, or Gregorian 

 Armenian Church has, in Persia, an Archbishop 

 of Ispahan, who resides in the convent Armen- 

 aprgich in the suburb of New Djulfah (under 

 him is a suffragan bishop at Calcutta, in In- 

 dia), and a second Archbishop of Tabreez, who 

 resides in the convent of St. Thaddeus. The 

 united Armenians have one bishopric (Ispa- 

 han), which has been established by Pope Pius 

 IX. The Chaldees (united Nestorians) have 

 an archbishopric at Kerkuk, and a bishopric 

 at Salmas. The aggregate number of united 

 Armenians and Chaldees amounts to from 

 7,000 to 8,000. The total number of Nesto- 

 rians is about 25,000 ; that of Armenians, 26,000. 

 The Protestant mission among the Nestorians 

 which was begun by the American Board of 

 Commissioners of Foreign Missions in 1834, 

 and transferred in 1871 to the Presbyterian 

 Board of Foreign Missions, numbered, in 1872, 

 two stations, 51 by-stations, 53 native preach- 

 ers and catechists, 43 teachers, 38 schools, and 

 713 members. 



The terrible famine, which devastated the 

 country in 1871, continued through a part of 

 the year 1872, and the condition of the popu- 

 lation was generally reported to be wretched 

 and unfortunate beyond description. But the 

 beginning of a new era was expected from a 

 reform ministry which the Shah appointed in 

 the latter part of the year. Hadji-Mitza- 

 Hussei'n-Khan, the new Minister of Foreign 

 Affairs, heretofore Persian ambassador in Con- 

 stantinople, Millkhum-Khan, the new Minis- 

 ter of the Interior, and the founder of the first 

 lodge of Freemasons in Persia, and Hassan 

 Ali-Khan, to whom the newly created Ministry 

 of Public Works was intrusted, are regarded 



