PERSIA. 
710 
not fail to produce fuch a mixture in the population 
that it would now be difficult to find the Perfian blood 
in its original purity. Chardin eftimated the population 
at forty millions of fouls : Kinnier confiders this num¬ 
ber as greatly over-rated ; and doubts whether the fpace 
between the Euphrates and Indus could furnifh more 
than eighteen or twenty millions. This population, be 
its number what it will, may be divided into two claffes: 
the ftationary inhabitants orthofe refident in towns and 
villages, and the migratory or wandering tribes. 
1. The native Perfians, who ftyle themfelves Tadjik, 
are a medley of all nations, Arabs, Guebres, and Jews, 
who have voluntarily or by compulfion embraced the re¬ 
ligion of Mahomet. 
2. The Elauts, or wandering tribes, are moftly of 
Turkifli origin, fpeak the Turkifh language, and retain 
the cuftom of their anceftors, the Scythians. The tribes 
of the fouthern provinces may be confidered as the de- 
fcendants of thofe favage hordes which dwelt in the fame 
parts in the time of Alexander. 
Almoft all thefe tribes lead a pafloral life. Some of 
them have fixed habitations, but they are moftly rovers. 
The latter, however, have diftrifts to which they confine 
themfelves. They live in tents furrounded with mats 
and covered with coarfe black cloth. In winter they re- 
ftde in the plains ; but in fummer they move about in 
queft of pafturage, retiring during the intenfe heats to 
the fummits and flopes of mountains. In winter fome 
of thefe tribes, fuch as the Caraguzloo and the Afshars, 
dwell in villages. In Daghiftan, at Afterabad, and in the 
northern part of Chorafan, they have fmall portable 
wooden huts inftead of tents. They fubfift chiefly on 
the produce of their flocks and herds, pay of courfe very 
little attention toagriculture,and arealmoftutter ftrangers 
to the mechanic arts, though they make cloth and vari¬ 
ous other articles for their own ufe. 
The wandering tribes colleftively are divided into four 
great claffes, according to the language which they fpeak 
and from which they are denominated. Collectively they 
amount to about 685,500 perfons; but in this eftimate 
are included only the tribes that are beft known, while 
many others, concerning which we have no pofitive in¬ 
formation, are wholly omitted. 
Each of the principal tribes is divided into feveral 
tiraz, or branches, all having their refpeclive chiefs, 
fubordinate to the fupreme chieftain of the tribe. Thefe 
chiefs are, as to birth and the power they poffefs, the 
higheft perfonnges of the ftate ; hence the king is anxi¬ 
ous to keep them about him, by giving them offices at 
his court, that he may bold fome pledge for the fidelity 
of their tribes; and, as they are in general extremely jea¬ 
lous, and of a martial difpofition, he confults his own fe- 
curity and that of the empire, by habitually fomenting 
quarrels among them, and keeping their power nicely ba¬ 
lanced. The ion commonly fucceeds his father in his 
dignity; but, if he proves himfelf unworthy of it, it is 
transferred to the younger brother. 
The military force of Perfia refides in thefe tribes ; 
their fondnefs for war, and their intrepidity, form the 
fafeguard of the kingdom, when it is not convulfed by 
the f'pirit of rebellion, which too often feizes them. 
They all pay tribute, and are bound to furnifh the king 
with fuccours in tlie wars in which he is engaged; each 
tribe being obliged to affemble at the Aril fummons, and 
to bring into the field a quota proportionate to its num¬ 
ber. (See p. 697.) They all profefs the Mahometan re¬ 
ligion. 
3. Let us now proceed to the diflenters from the Maho¬ 
metan religion. The Guebres are a remnant of the an¬ 
cient Perfians, who have retained the fire- worfliip and the 
dodtrine of Zoroafter, amid all the revolutions which 
have fo frequently changed the face of their country. 
In Chardin’s time, but a fmall number of them remained j 
the late wars have nearly completed their extermination : 
the villages which they inhabited to the fouth of Ifpahan 
are fwept away ; and a few families, which efcaped death, 
have fought refuge at Yezd, and in Kerman. Kinnier 
informs us, that there are ftill at Yezd four hundred Gue- 
bre families, who groan under the tyranny of Perfian 
agents. Each family pays a capitation-tax of twenty pi- 
aftres, and is nevertheless liable to all forts of extortions. 
See Persees. 
The Chri/iians fettled in Perfia are moftly Armenian 
fchifmatics, and chiefly dwell in the northern provinces. 
Their patriarch refides at the convent of Etfchmiazin, 
near Erivan. Thefe Armenians, fo opulent under the 
Sofys, and efpecially under Abbas the Great, who 
planted a colony of them at Julfa, near Ifpahan ; the 
fame people who had at one time nearly monopolized 
the commerce of all Perfia, and part of its manufactures ; 
now lead, moll of them, a vagrant life, bowed down by 
opprefiion and indigence. Julfa, formerly fo populous, 
is now but a heap of ruins, and contains no more than 
five hundred inhabitants. Some Armenians are likewife 
to be met with ’..1 Adherbijan, and. in the diftriCls of Me- 
ragah, Ourmiah, Salmas, Tabriz, Carabagh, and Erivan. 
Their total number is computed at 60,000 fouls, which 
perhaps exceeds the truth. The catholic churches of 
Nakfliivan, and other places in Perfian Armenia, no lon¬ 
ger exift: the catholics who live in the kingdom are in 
very fmall number, and are natives of India or Turkey. 
It is the lot of the Jeivs in Perfia, as in all the reft of 
the Eaft, to live in degradation, poverty, and contempt. 
There are Jews at Ifpahan, at Shiraz, and at Kafhan in 
Adherbijan : their number in thefe different places is ef¬ 
timated at about 35,000. Poverty deprefl’es them more 
and more, and familiarizes them with vice and infamy. 
Some of them are artifans, brokers, and ufurers; the reft 
live by felling wines, procuring women, and all forts of 
intrigues. Many addiCl themfelves to medicine and ma¬ 
gic; and, as the populace of all countries have a great 
deal of credulity, derive a great profit from their itnpofi- 
tures. The Jewefies gain admittance into the leraglios, 
of which they are the oracles. From them beauty pur- 
chafes the art and means of withftanding the ravages of 
time ; the coquette, the gift of pleafing and of exciting 
love in her tyrant; the female, folicitous to become a 
mother, the fpeedy accompliftiment of her wilhes. They 
alfo foretel future events, and fell potions poflefling vir¬ 
tues of all kinds, to produce love and hatred, to ruin a 
rival, and fo forth. Thefe Jews are the moft ignorant in 
the world. Travellers diftinguifli two claffes of them : the 
one defcended from the wretched Samaritan captives, 
whom the Aflyrians carried from Judea during the reign 
of Hofea king of Ifrael, and who were difperfed over 
Media and Parthia; the other from the Jews who were 
led into captivity to Babylon. Both w r ear external marks 
by which they may be known ; thefe are caps of a parti¬ 
cular colour, or fquare patches of cloth of a different 
hue from their garments. At Ifpahan the Jews are not 
permitted to wear cloth ftockings. 
Making allowance for the wandering tribes not enu¬ 
merated, w'e now venture to fum up the population of 
this interefting kingdom in round numbers as follows : 
Fixed inhabitants of the Mahometan religion 20,000,000 
Wandering tribes, ditto - - 700,000 
Chriftians and Jews - 100,oco 
Guebres, or fire-worfhippers - - 2,000 
20,802,000 
It would, perhaps, be impoflible to give to an inhabit¬ 
ant of London a correft idea of thefirft impreffions made 
upon the European ftranger on his landing in Perfia. 
Accuftomed, as his eye has been, to neatnefs, cleanlinefs, 
and a general appearance of convenience in the exteriors 
of life, he feels a depreffion of fpirits in beholding the 
very contrary. Inftead of houfes with high roofs well 
glazed and painted, and in neat rows, he finds them low, 
fiat- 
