PERSIA 



65 



and laborious industry of the ancient Persians in 

 this department are now ruinous. As a natural 

 consequence of the nature and situation of its 

 surface, Persia abounds with saline lakes, and 

 there are nearly thirty of them having no visible 

 outlets. The chief lake is Lake Urumiah (q.v.), 

 in Azerbijan. Lake Bakhtegan, in the east of 

 Fars, the receptacle for the drainage of the north- 

 ern half of that province, is about 60 English miles 

 in length by 9 in breadth. Lake Shim/ is much 

 smaller. Part of Lake Zirreh is included in the 

 frontier of Persia. 



Climate and Products. The climate is neces- 

 sarily very varied. What the younger Cyrus is 

 reported to have said to Xenophon regarding the 

 climate, ' that people perish with cold at one ex- 

 tremity of the country, while they are suffocated 

 with heat at the other, is literally true. Persia may 

 be considered to possess three climates that of the 

 southern Dushtistan, of the elevated plateau, and 

 of the Caspian provinces. In the Dushtistan the 

 autumnal neats are excessive, those of summer 

 more tolerable, while in winter and spring the 

 climate is delightful. On the plateau the climatr 

 of Fars is temperate. About Ispahan the winters 

 and summers are equally mild, and the regularity 

 of the seasons appears 

 remarkable to a stranger. 

 To the north anil north- 

 west of this the winters 

 are severe. The desert- 

 region of the centre and 

 east, and the country on 

 its Ixmler, endure most 

 oppressive heat during 

 Mil ni i IPT and piercing cold 

 in winter. The Caspian 

 provinces, from their 

 general depression below 

 the sea-level, are exposed 

 to a dt-gree of heat in sum- 

 mer almost equal to that 

 of the West Indies, and 

 their winters are mild. 

 Rains, however, are fre- 

 quent and heavy, and 

 manytractsof lowcountry 

 are marshy and extremely 

 unhealthy. Except in the 

 Caspian provinces, the 

 atmosphere of Persia is 

 remarkable above that of 

 all other countries for its 

 dryness and purity. 



The cultivated portions 

 of l'i-rsia, when supplied 



with moisture, are very fertile, producing an 

 immense variety of crops. The chief cultivated 

 products are wheat (the best in the world), barley, 

 and other cereals, cotton, sugar and rice ( in Ma/an - 

 deran), and tumhaku or tobacco for the nariiliilrh 

 or water pipe. The vine flourishes in several pro- 

 vinces, and the wines of Sluraz are celebrated in 

 eastern poetry. Mulberries are also largely culti- 

 vated, and silk is one of the most important pro- 

 ducts of the kingdom. Owing, however, to the 

 silkworm disease and the neglect of the Persian 

 government to procure healthy grain from abroad, 

 tin; silk cultivation has of late years greatly dimi- 

 nbhad, 



The forests of the Elhurz almund with wild 

 animals, as wolves, tigers, jackals, boars, buffaloes, 

 foxes, and the Caspian cat. Leopards almund in 

 Mazanderan, and lions in parts of Fars and 'Arab- 

 istan. Among domestic animals the horse, the ass, 

 and the camel hold the first place. The horses 

 have always lieen celebrated as the finest in the 

 East. They are larger and more handsome, but 

 369 



less fleet than the Arabian horses. The Caspian 

 rivers abound with fish, especially sturgeon, great 

 quantities of which are cured and exported to 

 Russia. The mineral products of Persia are insig- 

 nificant, with the sole exception of salt. Iron is 

 abundant in Azerbijan, but is not worked ; copper 

 occurs in considerable quantity in the mountains of 

 Mazanderan and Herman ; and lead, antimony, 

 sulphur, and naphtha also abound. Long before 

 Dr Tietze's report ( 1874) coal had been successfully 

 worked in the mountains near Teheran. 



Inhabitants. The settled population are chiefly 

 Tajiks, the descendants of the ancient Persian race, 

 with an intermixture of foreign blood. To this class 

 belong the agriculturists, merchants, artisans, &c. 

 The Tajiks are Mohammedans of the Shiite sect, 

 with the exception of the remaining Parsees (some 

 9000 in numl)cr), who are found chiefly at Yezd, and 

 still retain their purity of race and religious faith. 

 The Tajiks have been spoken of as timid, cunning, 

 and servile, but Vambery testifies to their industry, 

 and their capacity for and love of culture. The 

 nomad or pastoral tribes, or evlats (eyl, 'a clan'), 

 often spelt illi/ats, are of four distinct races Turks 

 (not Osmanh Turk), Kurds, Luurs, and Arabs. 

 Their organisation is very similar to that which 



Ispahan, looking south. 



formerly subsisted among the Highland clans of 

 Scotland, with the exception that the former are 

 nomad, while the latter inhabited a fixed locality. 

 Each tril>e is ruled by its hereditary chief (ujak), 

 and under him by the heads of the cadet branches 

 (tirehs) of his family. Of the four nomad races the 

 Turk is the most numerous, and to it belongs the 

 present Kajar dynasty. The Kurds are few in 

 numl>er, the greater part of their country and race 

 being under the sway of Turkey. The Arabs are 

 also few in number, and at the present day can 

 hardly be distinguished from the Persians, having 

 adopted lx>th their manners and language. The 

 Luurs are of nearly pure Persian blood. The 

 nomad races are distinguished from the Tajiks by 

 their courage, manliness, and independence of char- 

 acter ; but they are inveterate robbers, and havo 

 been the cause of many civil wars and revolutions. 

 There is a small population of native Christians 

 the Nestorians of Urumiah and Telmais, and 

 Armenians, whose principal settlement is at Julfa 

 ( Ispahan ), where there is an archbishop and a 



