890 REPORT—1890. 
within the United Kingdom. Of this the greater portion was mountain or spring- 
less desert: enough remained of arable, of habitable, and of salubrious districts to 
equal or exceed the area of our islands. The political importance to us of the 
development of Persia as an integral state was this: it would be onerous to hold 
it ourselves, it would be dangerous to let others hold it, it would be advantageous 
if it could progress—but progress it must—under its present rulers. When 
the Karun River—a great navigable waterway, and the only navigable river of 
Persia—was thrown open to commerce under certain almost prohibitive conditions 
by H.M., the Shah in 1888, the prospect of improved intercourse with Persia was 
received with some interest by the English press. If certain restrictions could be 
removed, and if certain facilities were offered, it seemed likely that the new trade 
routes, the advantages of which our geographers had taken great pains to 
demonstrate, would descend from the province of theory to that of reality. This 
hope, in spite of the arduous labours of those who were well acquainted with the 
methods and habits of the Hast, had only been partially realised. While H.M. 
the Shah was being féted by the merchants of London, the writer himself, as a 
traveller, was a witness of the scanty help—to say the least—which the Persian 
Government were extending to London merchants engaged in laborious work on 
the Karun. Individuals could only point out what measures it was necessary to 
take to facilitate commerce ; our Government alone had the power to see that they 
were taken. A mere declaration that a river might be navigated was not tanta- 
mount to opening it to commerce. In what manner its proper navigation would 
affect commercial intercourse it was now his object to describe. 
After some general remarks regarding the physical geography of Persia as 
bearing on the subject under consideration, the speaker proceeded to point out 
that the largest cities and the central points of attraction to commerce by the 
Persian Gulf were situated on the Persian plateau. Of these Ispahan contained 
some 80,000 and Teheran some 200,000 inhabitants. The volume of Persian trade 
flowed from and to the Persian Gulf by means of mule or camel transport; from 
the gulf there was cheap water carriage to India and to Europe. A portion passed 
by the Black Sea route dé Trebizond, while the rich province of Khorassan and the 
shores of the Caspian were enclosed within the widening zone of Russian com- 
mercial supremacy. Bushire stood at the entrance of the main avenue of the 
Gulf trade; thence a most difficult track led over high and precipitous passes to 
Shiraz; from Shiraz the way was easier towards Ispahan and Teheran. The 
distances along this, the principal road, at present, into Persia by the Gulf, were :— 
Shiraz, 200 miles; Ispahan, 520 miles; Teheran, 800 miles; and the elevations— 
between Bushire and Shiraz a pass of 7,250 feet; between Shiraz and Ispahan, one 
of over 8,000 feet ; between Ispahan and Teheran, the Kohrud Pass of 8,750 feet. 
The difficulties along this road were so great that bulky goods destined for Persia 
were taken by river to Bagdad, and thence, after passing the barriers of a Turkish 
custom-house, reached the Persian plateau by the easier route wd Kerrind. A 
glance at the map would show the advantages which Shushter, at the head of the 
navigable portion of the Karun River, possessed over Bushire. There you had a 
port distant some 130 miles by land from the Persian port of Mohammerah, to 
which ocean steamers had access. Shushter commanded a series of routes to the 
more populous districts and cities of Persia. The chief among these were :— 
1. From Shuster v7é Khoremabad, Burujird, and Sultanabad to Teheran, a distance 
of 480 miles, as against 800 between Teheran and Bushire. The elevations along 
this road were:—For a distance of about 110 miles its profile rose from under 
6,000 feet to passes over 7,000 feet high, the highest being that of Kushkedar, 
between Sultanabad and Burujird, 7,490 feet high. A group of European 
capitalists were engaged in constructing a cart road along this section, 2. From 
Shushter vz@ Malamir to Ispahan, a distance of 250 miles by the road which 
he had described in the current number of the Royal Geographical Society’s 
Proceedings. The higher altitudes along this road extended for a distance of 
about 73 miles, and the highest pass along it was about 8,650 feet high. By these - 
two roads the distance between Teheran and a port was reduced from 800 miles 
vid Bushire to 480 miles wd Shushter, while Ispahan held the benefit of 250 as 
a 
