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PERSIA. 



PERSIA, an empire in Central Asia. The 

 Shah is absolute ruler, with the power of dis- 

 posing of the lives and property of his subjects. 

 The present Shah is Nassr-ed-Din, born Sep- 

 tember 4, 1829. He succeeded his father, Shah 

 Mohammed, September 10, 1848, and is the 

 fourth of the Kajar dynasty, which gained the 

 throne after the civil wars of 1779-1794. The 

 Shah has two sons, Muzaffer-ed-Din, the heir- 

 apparent, born in 1850, and Djilal-el-Dauleh, 

 born in 1853. The constitution of the empire 

 is found in the laws of the Koran, and implicit 

 obedience is paid to the Shah as vicegerent of 

 the Prophet, governing according to the sacred 

 precepts. The Shah formerly had only two 

 ministers, the Grand Vizier and the Treasurer; 

 but now the government is carried on in seven 

 departments on the model of European cabi- 

 nets, the other ministers being, however, sub- 

 ordinate in authority. The Vizier directs the 

 foreign policy and commands the military 

 forces. The empire is divided into twenty 

 provinces, each governed by a beglerbeg, or 

 civil and military governor, who is often a 

 member of the royal family. The towns and 

 villages elect the magistrates who dispense jus- 

 tice. 



AREA AND POPULATION. The area is about 

 634,000 square miles, a great portion of which 

 is desert. The population is approximately 

 7,653,600, of whom 1,963,800 constitute the 

 city, 3,780,000 the rural, and 1,909,800 the no- 

 mad population. The latter number comprises 

 260,100 Arabs, 720,000 Turkomans, 675,000 

 Kurds and Leks, 20,700 Beloochees and Gyp- 

 sies, and 234,000 Bahtiares and Lures. In re- 

 spect to religion, the population is divided into 

 6,860,600 Shiites, 760,000 Sunnites and other 

 Mohammedan sects, 8,000 Guebres or Parsees, 

 19,000 Israelites, 43,000 Armenians, and 23,000 

 Nestorians and Chaldeans. The Imans Djuma 

 and the Sheik-ul-Islam are official Moslem 

 dignitaries, who receive emoluments from the 

 Government ; but the Mushtaheds, who hold no 

 official position, are the real chiefs of the clergy. 

 There are only five members of this priestly 

 order. The Mushtahed who resides at Kerbe- 

 la, near Bagdad, is recognized as the head of 

 all. In choosing their associates, the Mushta- 

 heds always select the candidate acclaimed by 

 the people, who are the actual appointing 

 power. The Armenians have two bishops, one 

 a Roman Catholic, and both residing in Ispa- 

 han. The Christian sects are treated with per- 

 fect tolerance, but the Jews and the Guebres 

 are harshly used. 



Among the Mussulman population there are 

 in every 1,000 inhabitants 495 males and 505 

 females ; among the Armenians there are 528 

 males and 472 females. 



A considerable proportion of the people of 

 Persia receive a literary education and a larger 

 portion possess the rudiments of education 

 than in any country in Asia except China. 

 There are many colleges supported by the Gov- 

 ernment, where, besides religion, Persian and 



Arabian literature, and such science as is cur- 

 rent in the East, are taught. Every family 

 that is able employs tutors to instruct its 

 sons. 



The population of Teheran, the capital, is 

 about 200,000 ; that of Tabreez or Tauris, the 

 chief commercial emporium, 165,000; that of 

 Ispahan and Meshed, about 60,000 each; of 

 Kerman, 42,000 ; of Reshd, Kasbin, and Yezd, 

 about 40,000 each ; of Hamadan, Shiras, Ker- 

 mansha, Dizfoul, and Kachan, about 20,000 

 each. 



There were only 42 post-offices in 1879 ; the 

 total number of letters forwarded was 419,- 

 630. The principal cities are most of them 

 connected by telegraph lines. There were, in 

 1879, 3,650 miles of lines and 5,950 miles of 

 wires. The number of dispatches sent in 1878 

 was about 500,000. 



COMMERCE. The external commerce of Per- 

 sia is of small volume, the total exports amount- 

 ing to about 1,250,000 tomans or $2,812,500, 

 the imports to twice as much, or about $5,625,- 

 000. (The toman is a gold piece worth $2.25 ; 

 the silver unit is the keran, of one tenth the 

 value of the toman). The main part of the 

 commerce of Persia centers in Tabreez, which 

 is the market for the productions of Northern 

 India, Samarcand, Bokhara, Cabool, and Beloo- 

 chistan, and the emporium for the European 

 trade, which is carried on by caravans with 

 Constantinople by way of Trebizond. The 

 principal article of import is cotton fabrics 

 from England; the chief article of export is 

 silk, which goes to France and England. Wool- 

 ens, glass, paper, iron, copper, sugar, and tea 

 are also imported. Among the other exports 

 are tobacco, skins, carpets, opium, gums, wool, 

 dates, cereals, and rice. 



AEMY. Military service was formerly for 

 life, but by the law of 1875 the time was fixed 

 at twelve years. The system of drawing by lot, 

 the conscripted being permitted to provide sub- 

 stitutes, was ordained ; but it has not been put 

 in practice. The nizams, or regular infantry, 

 muster 77 battalions of from 600 to 800 men 

 each. About 1,500 men, recently organized 

 by Austrian officers, are armed with Werndl 

 rifles. The chassepot had previously been par- 

 tially introduced. The armories contain about 

 9,000 Werndls, a few thousands of chassepots, 

 and 50,000 old breech-loading muskets. The 

 cavalry consists of the excellently mounted ir- 

 regular troops which the tribes are required to 

 furnish in time of war, and two regiments or- 

 ganized by Russian officers in the manner of 

 Cossacks; the effective force is about 30,000. 

 The artillery numbers 5,000 men, with 200 an- 

 tiquated pieces, excepting 30 Uchatius guns 

 given to five batteries instructed by Austrians. 

 There is a militia, called the Tofangtchi, con- 

 sisting of 24 companies of from 100 to 500 

 men each, which is employed only as a rural 

 police. 



FINANCES. The receipts in 1876 amounted 

 to about $8,200,000, of which some $7,000,000 



