C92 



PERSIA. 



PERU. 



quoises, and rice following in their order. The 

 imports are cotton cloth, woolens, glass, carriages, 

 sugar, petroleum, tea, coli'ee, drugs, etc. The value 

 of the foreign trade is about $45 .000, 000 a year. 



By the new Russian customs regulations of 185)5 

 a large part of the British and Indian trade with 

 Khorassan has been supplanted by the trade in 

 competing Russian products brought by the 

 Transcaspian Railroad. When that railroad was 

 completed to Samarcand in 1888 the Persian Gov- 

 ernment was induced to build a wagon road from 

 Meshed to the frontier to meet one constructed 

 by the Russians from the frontier to Ashkabad, 

 the capital of the Transcaspian province, the total 

 distance between the two towns being 100 miles. 

 Before that mainly British goods were to be 

 found in the bazaars of Meshed and other towns 

 of Khorassan. Prints from the new cotton mills, 

 of Moscow and other Russian manufactures 

 began to compete with them, and the trade was 

 encouraged by subsidies given by the Russian 

 Government. The British merchants nevertheless 

 held their own, because the main part of their 

 trade, which went by sea from Indian ports to 

 Bandar Abbas, and thence by a road 870 miles 

 in length, a forty days' journey, to Meshed, was 

 the transit trade in tea destined for the markets 

 of Bokhara and the other newly acquired Russian 

 provinces of central Asia. In 185)5 the Russian 

 Government established customhouses along the 

 frontier of Khorassan, and diverted the trade in 

 green tea, constituting two thirds of the total 

 British trade, from this route to that of the Trans- 

 caspian Railroad by admitting this tea when 

 dispatched in transit to central Asia by way of 

 the Black Sea, over the Batum and Baku route, at 

 the same tariff rate as was levied on the frontier 

 of Khorassan, which is three eighths of the regu- 

 lar Russian duty on tea. Russian imports into 

 Khorassan increased in two years 56 per cent., 

 while British imports in 185)7 were 71 per cent, 

 below those of 1895. The Indian Government has 

 begun to make a caravan road from Qiietta to 

 Meshed, 1,090 miles. A road in northern Persia 

 from Resht, on the Caspian, to Teheran has been 

 built at great expense by Moscow merchants and 

 the Russian Government. By agreement with 

 Russia the Persian Government can build no rail- 

 roads nor grant concessions for railroads before 

 1905. Russian sugar, cotton goods, glass, earthen- 

 ware, candles, petroleum, and other imports have 

 driven all others out of the markets of northern 

 Persia. In the south of Persia the British still 

 retain the bulk of the commerce. The total value 

 of the commerce of the Persian Gulf in 1898 was 

 estimated at 2,090,191 for imports and 1,217.- 

 804 for exports. The imports through Persian 

 ports were only 148,132, and the exports 90,- 

 336. The imports from India were 995.336, 

 and exports to India 483,286; the imports from 

 Arabia were 262,127, and exports to Arabia 

 226,006; the imports from China were 13,723, 

 and exports to China 212,047; the imports from 

 England were 539,238, and exports to England 

 127,476. The exports of opium by the southern 

 ports and land frontiers were 246,034 in value- 

 of pearls, 241,938; of rice, 71,331; of shells 

 52,738; of carpets, 48,639; of wool, 43099- 

 of dates, 39,366; of cotton cloths, 37,537; of 

 almonds, 28,715; of drugs, 24,264; of tobacco 

 23,192; of cereals, 20,733; of skins, 18,675- 

 of gum, 14,927. 



PERU, a republic in South America. The 

 legislative power is vested in the Congress, con- 

 sisting of a Senate of 48 members and a House 

 of Representatives containing 108. Every adult 

 male citizen who is either married, master of a 



trade, an owner of property, a taxpayer, or able 

 to read and write has a vote for the members 

 of the parish electoral colleges, who elect dele- 

 gates to the provincial electoral colleges, who in 

 turn elect the Representatives of the province in 

 Congress, in the proportion of 1 to every 3o.ooo 

 inhabitants or fraction exceeding 15,000, and, in 

 conjunction with the other provincial colleges, 

 the Senators representing the department, two 

 if the department contains only two provinces 

 and one more for every additional two provinces. 

 Members of both houses are elected for six \ 

 one third retiring every two years. The Presi- 

 dent is elected for four years by the direct \<>te 

 of the people. Nicolas de Pierola was elected for 

 the term ending Sept. 10, 1899. The Council of 

 Ministers in the l>eginning of 1899 was compo-ed 

 as follows: President of the Council and Mini-ter 

 of Justice, Worship, and Public Instruction, Dr. 

 Jose J. Loayza; Minister of Foreign Affairs. M. 

 F. Porras; Minister of the Interior and Polite. .1. 

 M. de la Puente; Minister of War and Ma HIM-. 

 M. J. Cuadros; Minister of Finance and Com- 

 merce. I. Rev. 



Area and Population. The area of Peru is 

 463,747 square miles, not including the province 

 of Tacna, area 8,685 square miles, occupied by 

 Chili for twelve years under an agreement that 

 the people should decide by a plebiscite whether 

 the province should belong to Chili defmit i\ely 

 or be restored to Peru. The population of IVru 

 was 2,629,663, comprising 1,323,080 males and 

 1,306,583 females at the last enumeration, which 

 was in 187G. This did not include umivili/cd 

 Indians, the number of whom is estimated at 

 350,000. The estimated population in 1896 was 

 4.559,550. Lima, the capital, had 103,956 inhabit- 

 ants in 1891. About 20 per cent, of the Perm i .m- 

 are of Spanish descent. 57 per cent. Indians, and 

 23 per cent, of mixed race. 



Finances. The budget for 1898 made the rev- 

 enue 10,785.850 soles, the sole being equal to about 

 50 cents, and the expenditure 11.488.240 sol.-. 

 Of the revenue 0,320.000 soles came from U-N.HI-. 

 2,167,410 soles from taxes, 1,130,440 sol.- from 

 the salt monopoly, 272,000 soles from p>-t- ;md 

 telegraphs, and 896,000 soles from various son 

 Of the exj>enditure8 364,370 soles were for Coii- 

 gress, 2,656,200 soles for the Ministry of the In- 

 terior. 644,700 soles for the Ministry of Foreign 

 Affairs. 1,205,450 soles for the Ministry of Jus- 

 tice, 3.086.000 soles for the Ministry of Finn IK.-. 

 3,214.320 soles for the Ministry of War and Ma- 

 rine, and 257,140 soles for the 'Ministry of Public 

 Works. The revenue for 185)7 was estimated at 

 10.721,520 soles, and expenditure at 11.308.240 

 soles. There was a deficit of 876,588 sole- at the 

 end of 1890, and to cover this and the anticipated 

 deficits of 1897 and 1898 the Government was 

 authorized to raise 1,500.000 soles, and to ar- 

 range for the payment of this loan with the coin 

 pany which collects the taxes. The total internal 

 debt in 1898 was estimated at 47..V.1.7<U) soles. 

 The foreign debt consists of a 0-per-cent. loan of 

 11,141,580 and a 5-per-cent. loan of 20.4:: 

 raised in England in 1870 and 1872 for the << in- 

 struction of railroads, on which the payment of 

 interest was suspended in 1876. With accumu- 

 lated interest the debt amounted to :> J.r.on.iMK) 

 in 1890, when an arrangement was made to turn 

 over to the bondholders for sixty-six years all 

 the railroads, mines, guano deposits, and lands 

 belonging to the Government. The budget esti- 

 mate of revenue for 1899 was 11,852,000 poles, ami 

 of expenditure 12.600,000 soles. 



The Army. The regular army consists of 

 2,086 infantry, 622 cavalry, and 449 artillery; 



