MODERN PERSIA AND ITS CAPITAL 



381 



in separate quarters, but each merchant 

 has his own little hole in the wall, where 

 he squats on the elevated floor beside his 

 small show-case, or, if his shop be more 

 pretentious, exhibits his goods from be- 

 hind a counter. 



The customer makes his purchases 

 standing in the public thoroughfare ; and 

 the process is a complex one, for often 

 prices cannot be agreed upon even after 

 protracted bargaining. 



Individual initiative and skilled hand 

 production still prevail in Persian in- 

 dustry, and the sections of the bazaar 

 occupied by the master craftsmen, who 

 execute the delicate gold and silver fili- 

 gree-work, the unique engraved copper 

 ware, or other native products are ex- 

 ceedingly interesting. 



PKRSIA IS NINETY-EIGHT PER CENT 

 MOSLEM 



Since Teheran is the capital and has 

 drawn its rapidly growing population 

 from throughout the whole country, it 

 affords an easy opportunity to acquire a 

 general idea of the religious groups to be 

 found in Persia. 



Nearly 97 per cent of the population 

 of Teheran and more than 98 per cent of 

 that of all Persia is Moslem. In Teheran 

 there are about 5,000 Jews and 4,000 

 Armenians. Nearly all, however, of the 

 fewer than 100,000 nominally Christian 

 population of Persia live in the western 

 part of the province of Azerbaijan. 



A remnant of the old Zoroastrians, or 

 Fire Worshipers, of pure Iranian stock, 

 still exists within the confines of Persia, 

 and 400 of these ten or eleven thousand 

 who have remained faithful to the ancient 

 Persian religion reside in the capital. 

 They are distinguished as being better 

 business men and more honest than the 

 Mohammedan Persians, and their women 

 have greater freedom. 



Especially among the military class are 

 found many representatives of the two 

 million people of predominating Tatar 

 blood in northwestern Persia. 



BY THEIR HEADGEAR YE SHAEE KNOW 

 THEM 



Every city, town, or district of any im- 

 portance is sure to have sent enterpris- 

 ing citizens to the capital, and there are 



picturesque representatives of numerous 

 tribes as well. The readiest means of 

 distinguishing the latter is by their dis- 

 tinctive headgear. 



The Kurds, of whom there are 600,000 

 in the country, wear hats which look for 

 all the world like huge, inverted black 

 coffee-pots bound round with gay silk 

 handkerchiefs. The Bakhtiaris, from the 

 mountains in the direction of the British 

 oil fields, in southwestern Persia, whose 

 chiefs maintain a numerous retinue in 

 Teheran, wear white felt preserving ket- 

 tles. In fact, a dissertation on masculine 

 Persian headdress (women are not al- 

 lowed to wear hats) would give a ready 

 key not only to recognition of the differ- 

 ent races of Persia, but even of the dif- 

 ferent classes of society, since hats are 

 rarely removed except when the owner 

 sleeps, and vary in appearance and dimen- 

 sions from the huge, pillow-like turban 

 of the mollah or lady's woolly muff of 

 the Persian Cossack to the round, brim- 

 less felt or lambskin cap worn by the 

 middle and upper class urban residents. 



The tribesmen especially have splendid, 

 powerful physiques. While the Persians 

 of the peasant and working classes are 

 of medium height and sparsely but 

 solidly built, a large portion, in particular 

 of the city population, has degenerated 

 through poverty, vice, and the use of 

 opium. And the urban upper class, be- 

 cause of a very sedentary, idle, overfed 

 life, inclines to obesity, the present shah 

 being a good example. Large brown 

 eyes, dark complexions, and straight 

 black hair are dominant characteristics 

 of the entire Persian population. 



MOST OE TEHERAN LIVES IN APARTMENT- 

 HOUSES 



The great mass of the Teheran popula- 

 tion lives in apartment-houses. This may 

 seem strange or impossible, considering 

 the forced seclusion of women ; but it is 

 a natural requirement of city life, and 

 the poor women have to move about as 

 unobtrusively as possible. 



The typical apartment-house is of 

 one-story, mud-brick construction, built 

 around a court, in the center of which 

 is usually a tank or pool of water. 



The rooms, or apartments, all open 

 upon the central court and in the ma- 



