PERSIA. 



his spiritual powers are denied by a large pro- 

 portion of the syeds and mullahs The Grand 

 Vizier, who unites the functions of Minister of 

 the Interior, of the Court, and of the Treasury 

 and Customs, is Mir/a Ali Askar Khan. Kamran 

 Naib-es-Saltaneh, the Shah's third son, is Minis- 

 ter of War, and commander-in-chief. The Min- 

 ister of Foreign Affairs is Kavani ed Duleh. 



Area and Population. The area of the 

 modern Empire of Persia, which was consolidated 

 in 1503, is about 628,000 square miles. The pop- 

 ulation was officially estimated in 1881 at 7,058.-, 

 600 inhabitants, of whom 1,968,800 lived in the 

 cities, 3,780,000 were settled in villages and in 

 the open country, and 1,909,800 belonged to the 

 nomadic tribes. The city of Teheran has about 

 210,000 inhabitants; Tabriz, 180,000; Ispahan, 

 90,000 ; Meshed, 70,000. 



Finances. The revenue for-1888-'89 amount- 

 ed to 54,487,630 krans, equal at the current price 

 of silver to $7,804,000, while the expenditure 

 amounted to 50,100,000 krans. For 1890-'91 the 

 revenue was estimated at $8,644,000. Uut of 

 the total sum expended in 1888-'89 the army 

 consumed 18,000,000 krans; 10,000,000 krans 

 went for pensions; 3,000,000 krans for allow- 

 ances to the princes, and 600,000 krans to other 

 members of the Kadjar family, of whom only 

 146 are inscribed in the official register, although 

 there are several thousand others ; 800,000 krans 

 for the diplomatic service ; 5,000,000 krans for 

 the court ; 500,000 krans for colleges ; 1,500,000 

 krans for the civil service ; 2,630,000 krans for 

 local government ; and 800,000 krans for remis- 

 sion of taxes in poor districts. The revenue is 

 raised by taxes assessed on the cities, districts, 

 and villages, the amounts being adjusted from 

 time to time by tax assessors. About a sixth 

 part of the taxes are paid in kind. 



The Army. The army is raised by tribal 

 levies, and in time of peace the troops are not 

 called into active service, except those that are 

 required for service on the frontiers and to gar- 

 rison the principal towns. In the arsenals there 

 are 50,000 Werndl rifles and 74 Uchatius guns, 

 of which 18 have the caliber of 9 centimetres, 16 

 that of '8 centimetres, and the rest have 7 centi- 

 metres caliber. There are also 500 or 600 old 

 smooth-bore cannons. The garrison of Teheran 

 consists of 3 regiments of Cossacks, of 400 men 

 each, and a battery of 6 guns. The war effect- 

 ive is stated at 80 battalions of infantry, of 1,- 

 000 men each ; 23 battalions of field artillery, of 

 200 men each ; and 125 squadrons of irregular 

 cavalry, of 200 men each. The force that is 

 properly equipped and is fit, for field service is 

 supposed to be about 54,000 men. The naval 

 force consists of 2 gunboats, the larger one of 

 600 tons and armed with 3 guns. 



Commerce. The principal articles of impor- 

 tation are cottons and other tissues, glassware, 

 paper, iron, copper, sugar, petroleum, and tea. 

 The chief exports are rice, opium, tobacco, skins, 

 silk, carpets, gums, wool, dates, and grain. The 

 statistics of the foreign trade are reckoned from 

 the amounts turned in by the farmers of cus- 

 toms, who collect a 5-per-cent. duty from for- 

 eign merchants and from 3 to 8 per cent, from 

 native Persians, and retain as their profit about 

 one sixth of the amount received. The total 

 value of the foreign commerce in 1889 was about 



$42,000,000, of which $16,000,000 represent ex- 

 ports and $20,000,000 imports. The annual ex- 

 port of opium averages 8,000 boxes, valued t.t 

 $3,250.000. The value of dried-fruit exports is 

 about $1,500,000 ; of cotton, $900,000 : of carpets. 

 $600,000; of tobacco, $560,000; of grain and 

 legumes, $475,000. The statistics of imports 

 and exports are very imperfect, because the 

 farmers of customs are interested in concealing 

 the amount of the trade, and because there is a 

 great deal of smuggling on the Russian and 

 Turkish frontiers. Tobacco, which is the third 

 article in importance in the list of exports, oc- 

 cupies a more important place in the estimation 

 of the people than even food and clothing, and 

 any cause that has the effect of raising its price 

 diminishes the power to purchase the necessaries 

 of life. The tumbeki, or water-pipe tobacco of 

 Persia, supplies the bazars of Turkey, Egypt, and 

 central Asia ; the tutun, or tobacco for the chi- 

 bouk or long pipe, is.also exported in large quan- 

 tities to Arabia, Asia Minor, and the Caucasus ; 

 and the cigarette tobacco grown in Ghilan and 

 Mazanderan is exported to Russia, except the 

 small proportion required for home consump- 

 tion. The greatest care is taken in the cultiva- 

 tion and preparation of tobacco for the market, 

 which gives employment to a vast number of 

 people, and many more are employed in trans- 

 porting it to the inland markets and seaport 

 towns, while the Government has always col- 

 lected a large revenue from customs, transit 

 dues, and plantation tithes levied on this article. 

 The estimates of foreign consuls make the total 

 annual production of tobacco 21.700,000 pounds, 

 of which 14,000,000 pounds are consumed in the 

 country and 7,700,000 pounds are exported. 



Communications. A small railroad. 6 miles 

 long, connecting Teheran with Shah Abdulazirn, 

 was opened in July, 1888, and since then a Per- 

 sian capitalist has built 20 miles of railroad be- 

 tween the Caspian port of Mahmudabad and the 

 city of Barfurush. The former railroad, con- 

 structed by a Belgian company under Russian 

 auspices, is to be extended to Reshd, on the 

 Caspian. The Russian Gen. Komaroff has 

 planned to build a railroad from the Russian 

 frontier to Meshed, while an English company 

 has projected a rival line for the benefit of the 

 trade with Great Britain and India, which will 

 run from the port of Muhammerah, on the Per- 

 sian Gulf, to Teheran. An English firm runs 

 a steamer from the mouth of the Karun river, 

 at the head of trie Persian Gulf, to Ahwaz. 

 The telegraphs belonging to the Government 

 have a total length of 2.674 miles of single wire. 

 The Indo-European Company works a line of 

 735 miles, with 2,205 miles of wire, between Bu- 

 shire and Ispahan and 415 miles, with 1,245 miles 

 between Teheran and Julfa. The post-office, 

 organized by Austrian officials in 1877, carries 

 letters regularly between the principal cities. 



Political and Financial Affairs. The 

 hopes of the Russians to extend their political 

 influence in Persia by means of commercial en- 

 terprises have not met with much success, and 

 those of the English with still less, thus far. Sir 

 Henry Drummond Wolff, who was succeeded in 

 the British legation at Teheran in the autumn 

 of 1891 by Sir Frank Lascelles, obtained various 

 concessions after his arrival in ^November, 1887, 



