PERSIAN GULF 



4596 



PERSIMMON 



his son, Ahmed Mirza, a boy of eleven, was pro- 

 claimed ruler under the regency of a prominent 

 Nationalist. In 1910, Mr. Sinister. an Ameri- 

 can. at the request of the government. was ap- 

 pointed by President Taft of the Unite.! 

 as Treasurer-General and supervisor of all Per- 

 sian finances, but when he tried to enforce the 

 collection of taxes he was opposed by the 

 wealthy Russian residents. In November, 1911, 

 Russia demanded his dismissal and the employ- 

 ment of a Treasurer-General selected by Kng- 

 land and Russia. A I Vivian was appointed, 

 who resigned in 1914. In 1915 Swedish officers 



laced in charge of the military police. 

 The regency was abolished in 1914 and the 

 shah now rules, assisted by a premier and eight 

 ministers of state. The shah's power is re- 

 stricted by the Parliament of 120 members and 

 the laws of the Mohammedan religion. He 

 and the priests are the administrators of justice. 

 and Persia is noted for the cruelty of its pun- 

 ishments. The country is divided into thirty- 

 three provinces, each under a governor-general 

 responsible to the central government. Sub- 

 provinces, districts, parishes, cities and towns 

 are governed by lieutenant-governors and may- 

 ors. E.B.P. 



Consult Abbott's History of Xrr.rcn the Great ; 

 Shedd's Our Little Persian Cousin; Buxton's 

 of Persian Heroes. 



It Hated Subjects. The reader who is inter- 

 ested in Persia is referred to the following arti- 

 cles in these volumes : 



Ispahan 

 Meshhed 



Persepolis 

 Shiraz 



Alexander the Great 

 Cyrus the < : 

 Darius, subhead 

 Darin* I 



CITIES 

 Susa 

 Tabriz 



Teheran 



HISTORY 



Greece, subtitle History 



Media 



Triple Entente 



Xerxes 



I. HADING PRODUCTS 



Carpets and Rugs Opium 



Caspian Sea 

 Elburz 



Iron 



I'M VSICAL FEATI'UKS 



Persian < lulf 



UNCLASSIFIED 



Mohammedanism 



PERSIAN, pt-r'xhan, or jur'zltfm. GULF, 

 an arm of the Indian Ocean separating Persia 

 from Arabia, noted for its pearl fisheries, which 

 are among the oldest in the world. The Strait 

 of Ormuz connects it with the Gulf of Oman. 

 Its area is about 90,000 square miles, its great- 

 est length 520 miles, and its average breadth 



180 miles. The F.uphrates and Tigris rivers, 

 which unite for the last 120 miles of their course 

 to form tin- stream called Shat-rl-Arab. pour 

 their waters into the gulf. The principal ports 

 are Abbas. Lingah. Render. Rush ire and Mu- 

 hamrah. The River Karun. at the head of the 

 gulf, has been opened to navigation as far as 

 Ahwaz. The Rahrein Islands and ( >rma/d, Ilor- 

 muz and Kishm are the principal islands in the 

 gulf, the Rahrein group being particularly noted 

 for their pearl fisheries. Iron, coal, salt and 

 lead have also been found on the islands. A 

 new tariff system, which came into force on 

 February 14, 1903, under the commercial treaty 

 between Persia and Russia, has affected the 

 pearl trade by reason of the levying of a uni- 

 form duty of five per cent on all imports and 

 exports. See colored map, ASIA, for location. 



PERSIAN WARS, the name given to the 

 struggle between the Persians and the Gr> 

 which began in 500 B.C. and ended about 449 

 B. c. Some of the most famous battles in the 

 history of the world occurred during this con- 

 flict notably the battles of Marathon, Ther- 

 mopylae, Salamis and Plataea; while among 

 the famous men engaged in the struggle were 

 Darius, Xerxes, Miltiades, Themistocles and 

 Aristides. The causes of the wars and the 

 progress of events in detail are given in the 

 articles GREECE and PERSIA. 



PERSIMMON, per sim' un, a group of trees 

 belonging to the ebony family, two species of 

 which are found in the temperate regions of 

 North America. The common persimmon i- 

 distributed from Rhode Island to Florida ami 

 west to Kansas and Texas. It is an attractive 

 tree of graceful appearance, not usually grow- 

 ing higher than fifty feet, and bears shiny green 

 leaves, small, yellowish-green flowers and a deep 

 yellow fruit an inch or more in diameter. This 

 fruit is so bitter before it is ripe that a bite 

 into one fairly "puckers" the mouth. Persim- 

 mons taste best after the frost has touched 

 them. It is the tannin in them that makes 

 them so astringent before they have ripened. 

 The wood of the tree is very hard, tough and 

 fine-grained, and is used in turnery. Persim- 

 mon trees grow best when planted from the 

 seed, transplanting being a difficult process. 



The other species, the black persimmon, 

 grows in the western part of Texas as far south 

 aa the Gulf of Mexico. Its fruit is black and 

 insipid and is valued chiefly for a black dye ob- 

 tained from the juice. The wood, too, is black. 

 sometimes with yellow markings, and is used 

 to a limited extent for engravers' blocks. The 



