P E R 
fervants of his governors and officers of date ; it returns, 
however, to its firft fo.urce, and the government requires 
pecuniary fatisfaftion for the oppreffive adminiftration 
of its fervants. 
Thefe beglerbegliks, or grand divifions, are fubdivided 
into diftrifts called balook, under officers bearing the title 
of lilian, zabit, or hakim , according to the extent of their 
jurifdiftion. Each confiderable town has, befides its go¬ 
vernor, a kelaunter, or mayor, whofe bufinefs it is to col- 
left the taxes. He is a magiftrate of high rank, who 
holds his office of the crown, and appears once a-year 
before the king, an honour not granted to magiftrates 
of an inferior clafs. His falary is paid out of the royal 
exchequer. The helaunter is the channel through which 
the petitions of the people are prefented and their wants 
made known to the king; he is on all occafions the repre- 
fentative of the rayas, or fubjefts. He is obliged by his 
office to afcertain the amount of the property pofl’efl’ed by 
perfons under his jurifdiftion, for he has to prepare the 
lift of affeffments; and, if the paper fixing the fum at 
which each is affefled were not furnifhed with his feal, the 
individual would pay no attention to it at the time of col¬ 
lecting the imports. The kelaunter, moreover, afts as 
judge in cafes of theft or quarrels: his decifions, which 
are, or ought to be, agreeable to eftablifhed ufage, are 
given on the fpot. On this account he is ftyled hakim-ourf, 
judge of the common law. It is his duty alfo to carry 
into execution the fentences of the civil magiftrate. 
The cities of Perfia are ufually divided into mahals, or 
quarters. Each mahal is under the fuperintendance of 
a ket-khoda, who is accountable to the kelaunter. There 
is no falary attached to this office, which is merely hono¬ 
rary, and is filled by the moft reputable perfon in the 
quarter. The duties imported by it confift in rendering 
an accurate account even of the moft trifling circumftan- 
ces, fuch as births, marriages, natural deaths, robberies, 
quarrels &c. and in afcertaining the occupations and 
means of fubfiftence of all the inhabitants of the quarter. 
When troops arrive in a town, the governor alfembles 
the ket-khodas, and informs them of the number for 
whom lodging and fubfiftence are required : and it is their 
bufinefs to quarter the troops and levy the rations in 
fuch a manner that the charge Ihall fall equally on every 
inhabitant. 
It is a cuftom that has been followed ever fince the 
moft ancient times, not to commit the cuftody of the cita¬ 
del of a town to the governor, but to an officer called kut- 
rvall, who is appointed by the king or the beglerbeg, and 
wholly independent of the kelaunter. 
Befldes the kelaunter, the ket-khoda, and the kutwall, 
there are in every town other officers for the mainte¬ 
nance of order, fuch as the darogha, the meer-ufus, and the 
mohtujib. The darvgka, or fuperintendent of the bazars 
or markets, holds his office from the government. He 
fettles thedifputes that occur in the markets, hears com¬ 
plaints, and decides without appeal. If a Ihopkeeper re- 
fufes to execute, or violates, his agreement, and com¬ 
plaint is made to the darogha, he obliges him to perform 
it ; or, if a debtor fliould prove that he is totally unable to 
fatisfy claims made upon him, he grants a certain time 
for the fulfilment of his contraft. This magiftrate alfo 
fuperintends the morals of the people ; and, if he detefts 
any of them drinking wdne, or in the fociety of courte- 
fans, he compels them to purchafe his connivance at no 
fmall expenfe. Hence the office of darogha is extremely 
lucrative : for, in addition to the prefents and bribes 
which he is in the habit of receiving, the fhopkeepers 
fupply him gratuitoufly with every thing he requires, 
that they may enfure his protection and favour. 
The appointment of the meer-ufus, or head of the watch, 
who is alfo ftyled lieckeekdjee-bajhee, nearly refembles that 
of darogha; the latter fuperintending the police in the 
day-time, and the former at night. It is his office to 
preferve the peace of the city, to apprehend perfons 
found in the ftreets at improper hours, and to prevent 
. Vol. XIX. No. 1336. 
S I A. 699 
robberies. He has under him, for this purpofe, a num¬ 
ber of people, who patrole the ftreets, and keep watch 011 
houfe-tops. Each ihopkeeper contributes two pence or 
three-pence, monthly, to defray the expenfes of this ef- 
tablifliment. If a houfekeeper is robbed, the meer-ufus 
is accountable for the robbery, and is obliged either to 
recover the property ftolen, or to pay the amount. The 
latter rarely happens; for this officer is generally con¬ 
nected with all the thieves in the city, and can anfwer for 
their obedience to his orders. They rob, therefore, in 
places not under his protection; and, as he is commonly 
fuppofed to participate in their plunder, they are con¬ 
nected together by a common intereft. 
The mohtujib is an infpeftor, whofe bufinefs it is to re¬ 
gulate the price of every article which is fold in the ba¬ 
zaar, and to fee that the weights are of the proper ftan- 
dard. This duty is ufually performed once a-week , and, 
if he convifts any perfon of ufing falfe weights, the pu- 
niffiment frequently is death. 
Small towns and villages are governed by a ket-khoda, 
who has under him a pak-kiur, or deputy. The latter at¬ 
tends to the details of the duty, and reports to his princi¬ 
pal. Laftly, there is no place, how infignificant foever, 
but what is under the fuperintendence of a rets, or chief. 
As to the taxes which are levied in Perfia, they are of 
three kinds; called maliek, Jadeer, and pejhkeejh. 
1. The malieh are the taxes levied, in money or in kind, 
on land and towns. They are paid in kind on corn, filk, 
cotton, and other articles of that fort; and in money on 
vegetables, fruit, and other lefs confiderable produftions 
of the foil. Thefe taxes were formerly only one-tenth, 
but are now one-fifth, of the produce: they are regula¬ 
ted by the number of oxen kept by the cultivator: thus 
it is afliimed that one ox is fufficient to do the work of a 
certain quantity of land, and this quantity is multiplied 
by the number of cattle. For the taxes in kind, the pro¬ 
duce of a jureeb, or acre, is calculated ; and the amount 
of the tax is deduced from this eftimate. The amount 
of the taxes paid by towns is governed, not by the num¬ 
ber of the inhabitants, but of the houfes. In general a 
town is taxed for a whole diftrift, and its magirtrates fix 
the quota to be paid by the dependent villages. The 
collector is called mouftoufee: it is his duty to keep a re- 
gifter of the value, the produce, and the annual amount, 
of the taxes of the lands within his jurifdiftion, and a 
regular ftatement of the receipts and dilburfements made 
on account of government. In the various parts of Per¬ 
fia there are royal granaries eftablifhed for receiving the 
rents and taxes in kind, which are entrurted to the ma¬ 
nagement of an officer called umbardar. Another defpot, 
called the hakim, who is invefted with the general con¬ 
trol over thefe officers, enforces the claims of government, 
either by punifhing or confining the cultivators. Thefe 
officers of courfe have under them a number of fubordi- 
nate agents, who are difperfed among the different vil¬ 
lages within the circuit of their authority. 
When government is in want of money, it applies to 
the hakim or to the mouftoufee, dating the fum required. 
Thefe officers have a right to increafe it for their own 
profit, and are at no lofs for means of extortion. Befides, 
moft of the offices of this kind are fold by government, 
and the price paid for them regulates the degree of op- 
preffion that is exercifed : this praftice is general down 
to the very lowed: ftages. The whole body of collectors 
is a poifoned fpring, and every ftream that flows from it is 
infefted. Let the payment of a certain fum be required 
of the humbled agent, and it matters not how it is levied : 
he has no other Itandard than his conlcience. “I have 
repeatedly feen,” fays Mr. Scott Waring, “ the fervants 
of the prince’s dependents enter a village and feize what¬ 
ever they require, without making the fmalleft remunera¬ 
tion to the inhabitants. If the villagers evinced the 
lead reluftance, they were threatened with the baftinado, 
the ufiial recompence which a poor man in Perfia receives 
from his fuperior.” 
2. The 
