





PERSIA. 



132 



>with 



mi 



There are no 



U yrmr i is prof-Try a swamp, coTred partly 

 l-rdy wuh pUliHnu of mulbsnVe and rie*> 

 Vils** in this OMUtry. Ui pMUta re-iding either in liagU dwellings 

 or ID small coutiuuoitiw UoiB ne^dua .ight hou.es. In some 

 plM th*t are baaaan, which, a* wU a* the small clusters of hut, 

 I* utuAsrd in the midst of Uw fcrwU or plantations at mulberry- 

 tree*. AdU.tbpiwa of OhiUn.oiM of tbemort commercial pUoe. 

 m Fwnfc, is situated ia the midst of font* *t some distance wert of 

 tlM month of the SeM-Kud. The popuUlioD U varioualy eUted 

 hrtweeo 40.000 and 80,000. The home* aw of a superior oon.truotion, 

 ad the etewei poerally well pared. 1U commercial connections 

 extend to Muted and Herat, Tehcnn and Ispahan, and also to Badku, 

 or Baku, and Astrakhan. There are wreral extensive manufactorie* of 

 ilk stuff.. The eomniero* with Astrakhan I* carried on by mean* of 

 the port uf Buttlee, which is about 18 mile* from Resht, and separated 

 from it by a lagoon. Uhijan U a nrat well-built towu, on an island 

 temd by the bifurcation of the river 8efid-Rud. It baa a considerable 

 commrrc* in lk with Reaht and Ispahan. The population amounts 

 to 15,000. The moet northern portion of Ohilan i* called Talish. 



11. Vaaanderan comprehend, the largest and wideet portion of the 

 low plain along the ahorei of the Caspian Sea. Though the country 

 lorn; the eea b very low and marshy, it rues somewhat at a short 

 dhwanti from the shore, owing to which circumstance the inundations 

 produced by the heavy rains are lets extensive and of much shorter 

 duration, especially aa the rain* themselves are leu frequent and leas 

 heavy, than in Qbilau. The climate U accordingly much more healthy, 

 and aereral plants are extensively raised which do not succeed in 

 (ihilan, especially the sugar-cane and cotton ; but it does not produce 

 so much silk as* that province. It U however very well cultivated, 

 and populous. The most western town is AHOL. Farther east is 

 HAI reran. Sane, the capital of the province, is a very ancient town. 

 The walla, which are of mud, and strengthened with square brick 

 towers, are about two mile* in circuit The streets are unpaved, and 

 often impassable in bad weather. The town contains a population of 

 10,000 or 40,000, and has some commerce with Astrakhan by means 

 of its harbour Farah-Abad, situated at the month of the river Tejen, 

 which runs east of the town. At Farah-Abad the Russians have 

 established a wry extensive fishery, as great numbers of sturgeous 

 enter the river : they send caviar and isinglass to Astrakhan. At this 

 place are the ruins of a large palace built by Shah Abbas the Great. 



A great artificial road was constructed by Shah Abbas the Great, 

 through the provinces of Qhilan aud Mazanderan. It begins at Kiskar, 

 the western extremity of Ohilan, traverses the low plains, and ascends 

 the declivity of the table-land of Iran by the pass which leads to Bostau 

 in Khoraran, whence it is carried within a short distance of Mushed. 

 In moet parts it is still used, though it has been damaged in some 

 nil tics by torrents and inundations. It appears to have been 15 or 16 

 met wide, and to have been constructed by filling a deep trench with 

 gravel and stones, over which a regular causeway was very firmly built. 



12. Astrabsd, which comprehends the eastern portion of the low 

 plain that skirts the Caspian, and comprises also the hilly country to 

 the south, U the subject of a separate article. [ASTRABAD*] 



Maimf<Kl*rtt and Commtrce. The manufactures of Persia have been 

 already named. In the manufacture of some articles the Persians 

 are distinguished, as in several kinds of silk stuffs, especially bro- 

 cades, and sword-blades, leather, carpets, felt of camel-hair, and 

 jewellery. British cottons and silks obtain a ready sale owing to their 

 cheapness. Persian goods are all woven by hand. The manufactures 

 are chiefly in the large towns. The internal commerce of Persia is 

 Tery considerable. It is entiiely carried on by caravans. Great 

 quantities of goods are brought by different caravan routes from 

 India across Afghanistan, and distributed over the country. Arthur 

 Conolly enumerate* the articles conveyed to and from India by the 

 northern caravan routes through Hushed, and indicates the countries 

 from which they are brought ; as from Ispahan aud Yezd, fine velvet, 

 ilka, cotton stuffs, felt, shoes, sugar, and sugar-candy ; from Cashan, 

 gold and silver, kiuicob, ootton-tocks, ink-elands, lamps of bronze, 

 pot*, and other utensils of copper; from Shiraz, dates, tobacco, lemons, 

 lacquered-ware, ornaments made of ivory, and mats ; from Herman, 

 .hawls, sugar-candy, opium, henna, and indigo ; from Bind and Hind, 

 sugar, sugar-candy, spices, musk, amber, corals, precious stones, leather, 

 kitueob, Indian aud British muslins, and indigo ; from Cashmere and 

 Bokhara, shawl*, saffron, jmper ; I ; , and Russia, by the way 



of Bokhara, lamb-akin* (more than 120,000), btuffs made of camel-hair, 

 tea, and Russian manufactures, as shagreen, broadcloth, satin, nankeen, 

 china, glass, utensils of iron, copper, brass, cutlery, looking-glasses, 

 esjdl**, *c. Since the navigation on the Caspian Sea has increased, 

 Russian good* are brought from Reaht and Balfrush. From Herat are 

 brought to Hushed, carpels, assafcetida, lead, saffron, pistachio-nuts, 

 maMie, manna, gummi, upiruck (a yellow dye), and caraway-seeds. A 

 well frequented caravan track leads from Tabriz through Van aud 

 Rn-rnm to Trebixond, and large quantities of textile goods are 

 imported by tat* route from Europe. A branch of this route leads to 

 Tiflis in Kusaian Georgia. 



The foreign oommeros of Persia however Is less important than the 



.1 trade. The principal foreign trade is with India through the 



f Itahirv, with Russia through Valfnwh, and the ports on the 



Cupian (this trade i* now curried on by steamers), with Baghdad, 



Turkey, and Bokhara by caravans. The total exports are supposed to 

 .imoiint in value to no more than n million and a half sterling. 



Oorenmml. Persia is an absolute monarchy ; the . king 



is law, and the life and property of the subject are in his hand-. II 

 delegates his power to the governors of provinces, reserving to himself 

 the power of life and death, with which he entrusts only the governors 

 of the royal blood, and such persons as are sent to govern distant 

 provinces or such as are in a state of rebellion. The governors of the 

 provinces are called sardars, and those of smaller districts kulombegs. 

 The tribes of the Iliyats however nro not subject to these governors, 

 but are under their own hereditary chiefs. The adminixtrat: 

 the law is exercised by courts, of which there are two kinds, the fherrah 

 court* and the urf courts. The former decide matters according to 

 the Koran ; the second, according to the customary laws of Persia. 

 The supremo judge in the sherrah courts is the Sheik-al-Islam, who 

 decides matters in the last instance. In every town there is a judge, 

 and in the larger ones also a cauzee, who is aided by a council of 

 mullahs. The urf is administered by the king himself, and Ins 

 governors and delegates. The courts HIV lu-ld in public, and tV- 

 monarch sits for a certain time each day in lin hall of audience, to 

 hear appeals, to receive petitions, and to decide such cases as come 

 before him. 



The army of Persia consists of about 40,000 men regularly discip- 

 lined, of which only about 20,000 are organised on European principles. 

 But the king can iu a few weeks collect an army of 100,000 men, the 

 greatest part of which number is supplied by the tribes of the Iliyats, 

 and consists of irregular cavalry. 



(Kinueir; Ouseley; Morier; Fraser; Conolly, 'Journey to the North 

 of India ;' Burnes, ' Travels into Bokhara ;' Rich, ' Narrative ;' Hitter ; 

 ' London Geographical Journal,' vols. Hi., vi., viii., ix., x., xiv.) 



History. At the earliest period of which any trace is preserved, 

 Persia appears to have formed a province of the great Assyrian empire, 

 on the disruption of which it fell under the power of the Modes, about 

 B.C. 709. Astyages, king of the Medes, was dethroned n.c. 560 by 

 Cyrus, who, according to Herodotus, was his grandson by his daughter 

 Mandane, and who not only established the ascendancy of the Persians 

 over the Medes, but by his victory over Croesus, king of Lydia, and 

 by his conquest B.C. 588 of Babylon and its dependencies, ext 

 his empire to the Hellespont and the Syrian Sea. This great prince 

 perished (529) in an expedition against the Scythians, probably beyond 

 the Oxus; and was succeeded by his sou Cambyses (529-21), who 

 subdued Egypt. On his death the kingdom was usurped by a Magian, 

 who personated Smerdis, the brother of the deceased monarch : but 

 this impostor was destroyed by the nobles, who raised to the throne 

 oue of their own body, Darius Hystaspes (Guahtasp). In his reign 

 (521-485) the empire was divided into satrapies, and regular taxes 

 introduced : Babylon revolted, and its walls were destroyed : and though 

 a Persian expedition, under the command of Darius himself, against 

 Scythia was a failure, the acknowledgement by Macedonia and Thrace 

 of Persian supremacy extended the empire into Europe. The revolt 

 of the Asiatic lonians (501) and the aid given them by Athens, was 

 the origin of the long wars of Greece and Persia. The defeat at 

 Marathon (490) of a Persian force sent against Athens, showed the 

 determination and military skill of the Greeks to be formidable. The 

 famous expedition of Xerxes, the sou and successor of Darius (485-64), 

 conducted in person against Greece, Herodotus states to have con- 

 sisted of above five millions of men, including an army of 1,700,000 

 infantry and 80,000 cavalry, and a fleet of 1200 ships. But this 

 stupendous host, though it ravaged Attica and burnt Athens, sustained 

 a signal naval defeat at Salamis; and the following year (-17!*), after 

 Xerxes had returned to Asia, the land and sea forces were discomfited 

 in the two battles, fought on the same day, of Plahea in Bcootia, and 

 Mycale ou the coast of Asia Minor. The Persians were now driven 

 from Europe ; and Xerxes, who became more voluptuous and cruel 

 after this disaster, was murdered by the captain of his guards (B.C. 464). 



During the long reign of his sou Artaxerxes Longiimums (probably 

 the Ahasuerus of Scripture), the power of the empire greatly declined ; 

 Egypt was in continual revolt, and the Asiatic Greek cities were 

 recognised as independent by the peace (449) which ended the Grecian 

 war. The short reigns of Xerxes II. aud Sogdianus occupy onlv a 

 year (425): and the rule of Darius II., surnamed Nothus (4-J: 

 presents only revolts at home, and intrigues with Greece, wli 

 alliance was formed with Sparta against Athens (411). Egypt threw 

 off the yoke altogether in 414, and remained independent for 65 

 Artaxerxes II., surnamed Mnemon, succeeded (405-859); and his 

 younger brother Cyrus, attempting to dethrone him by the aid of an 

 army of Greek mercenaries, was defeated and killed (401) at the battle 

 of Cunaxa, in the plains of Babylonia, an engagement which was 

 followed by the memorable Retreat of the Ten Thousand. In a war 

 with Sparta, which commenced iu 400, the integrity of the empire 

 was threatened by the successes of Agesilaus, who, in three campaigns 

 (896-94), advanced for into Asia : but by fomenting a coalition in the 

 heart of Greece against Sparta, Artaxerxes was enabled in 387 to 

 conclude the advantageous peace of Autalcidas, by which Persia 

 recovered the Ionian cities and Cyprus, though the latter was not 

 reduced till nfter 10 years' war. The accession of his son Ochus, or 

 Artaxerxes III., was followed by revolts in Asia Minor, Syria, and 

 other provinces : but the former was betrayed by its leader Orontes 



