PERSIA. 



PERU AND BOLIVIA. 



681 



were collected in money and the rest in kind, 

 counting a bushel of grain worth a little over 

 25 cents. The expenses were about $8,000,000. 

 They comprised about $3,400,000 for the army, 

 $1,500,000 for the court, $1,150,000 for the 

 clergy, $350,000 for presents to great families, 

 the Afghans, etc., $1,300,000 for foreign affairs, 

 $250,000 for the other ministries, and $50,000 

 for colleges. About $600,000 came from direct 

 taxes and $1,000,000 from customs. The direct 

 taxes are levied upon the villages, towns, and 

 districts, which are assessed for a fixed annual 

 sum, the quota being adjusted from time to 

 time by royal assessors. There is no public 

 debt. The surplus revenue of each year is 

 turned into the Shah's treasury. The present 

 Shah is believed to have amassed a fortune of 

 over $20,000,000, one half of which is repre- 

 sented by diamonds. The incidence of the 

 taxes falls directly upon the laboring popula- 

 tion. The Christians, JeWs, and Parsees es- 

 cape paying their proportionate share. The 

 payments in kind are mostly used in the main- 

 tenance of the army. 



FOREIGN RELATIONS. The Shah has placed 

 himself virtually under the protection of Rus- 

 sia. By the treaty, concluded on March 10th, 

 adjusting the boundary betwen Per?ia and the 

 Russian possessions east of the Caspian, the 

 Shah ceded to Russia the northeastern rim of 

 the Iranian plateau. The Persian ruler, by 

 this act, places his realm entirely in the power 

 of the Russians, admitting them within the 

 impregnable mountain bulwarks at the edge of 

 the plateau. If the Russians have the acquisi- 

 tion of Afghanistan in view, or if they enter- 

 tained designs upon British India, the conceded 

 territory gives them the command of a shorter 

 and easier route to Herat than around the skirt 

 of the plateau by way of Merv. Astrabad, 320 

 miles southeast of Krasnovodsky and 40 miles 

 from the Persian port of Chikislar, has become 

 the military and commercial center of Russia 

 in the Transcaspian region. A railroad has 

 been built from the port of Krasnovodsky to 

 this post, placing it in steam communication 

 with the Russian railroad system. The head 

 of navigation on the Tejend, 350 miles above 

 Herat, is only 60 miles distant from Astrabad. 

 Herat is also approachable from Meshed by 

 way of Keltechinar Pass, the distance being 

 220 miles, and between Meshed and Astrabad 

 50 miles. The economical value of the ac- 

 quired territory surpasses its strategical im- 

 portance. It embraces the foot-hills of the 

 chains of Kubbet Dagh, Allah Akbar, and 

 Mazderan, extending from Kizil-Arvat to Sa- 

 rakhs. This district was the garden of an- 

 cient Khorassan, and is still as fertile, well- 

 watered, and salubrious, as ever. The raids 

 of the steppe Turkomans have caused the rich 

 valleys to be deserted within the last two cen- 

 turies. According to the Russian maps of 

 sixty years ago, Sarakhs did not form a part 

 of the Persian Empire. The Persians had a 

 fort formerly on the right bank of the Redsh, 



which they destroyed. They then established 

 the present town of Sarakhs on the other side 

 of the river, and the fortress, which has been 

 manned with Persian soldiers for a quarter of 

 a century. 



This corner of Iran is better adapted for 

 Russian colonization than any territory ac- 

 quired by the Czar in the khanates. Persia, 

 in subjecting herself to political dependence on. 

 Russia, places her hopes of commercial prog- 

 ress in the Russians. The Russians are ex- 

 erting themselves to extend their traffic on the 

 Caspian, and the caravan-trade with the re- 

 gions beyond. A railroad is spoken of, to be 

 built within three years by the Persian Gov- 

 ernment, from Teheran to the Caspian port 

 of Reshd, and one to be built by Russia from 

 Tiflis, through Erivan and Natchitchevan, to 

 Julfa, and to be extended thence, by the aid 

 of Russian capital, to Tabreez and Teheran. 

 The dominance of Russian influence in Tehe- 

 ran dates from the fall of the chief minister, 

 Mirza Hussein Khan, who was deprived of his 

 post on account of peculation. He returned 

 to Meshed and commenced to fortify it, re- 

 fusing to obey the orders summoning him to 

 Teheran, until he suddenly died, it was said, 

 of poison. His successor, Mirza Seid Khan, 

 is said to stand in Russian pay. 



INTERNAL DISTURBANCES. The chief of the 

 Bahtiares, in the neighborhood of Ispahan, was 

 murdered while on a visit to the governor, Djil- 

 al-es-Soltanes, the son of the Shah. The prince 

 was suspected of the crime, actuated by the 

 growing influence and power of the chief. 

 The son of the latter died in like sudden and 

 mysterious manner a few days later. These 

 events roused the Bahtiares to rebellion. The 

 first force of 4,000 to 5,000 troops which was 

 sent against them in August was defeated. 



While the Bahtiares raised the flag of rebel- 

 lion in the south, the Turkomans continued to 

 be the scourge of the north of Persia. Since 

 the Russians received the submission of the 

 Akhal Turkomans, and commenced paying 

 court to the tribes of Merv, they appear to 

 have been less eager to suppress marauding. 

 The execution of a Turkoman chief, who was 

 sentenced by the Russian governor of Astra- 

 bad, aroused the vengeance of the widow of 

 the chief, who rendered the whole district un- 

 safe. 



PERU (REPUBLICA DEL PERU) AND BO- 

 LIVIA. For details concerning territorial di- 

 vision, area, population, etc., reference may be 

 made to the "Annual Cyclopaedia" for 1873 

 and 1878, to the article "BOLIVIA" in the vol- 

 ume for 1879, and to the article " PERU " in 

 that for 1881. Since the year 1882 has passed 

 by without an end to the strife between Chili 

 and portions of the Peruvian population headed 

 by partisan chieftains, and since no practical 

 basis has yet been arrived at for the conclusion 

 of a formal armistice as a forerunner to peace, 

 we shall mainly confine ourselves to making 

 some extracts from the book of Mr. Clements 



