All mosques and shrines have some endowments (wakf), and out of the proceeds of these are provided the funds for the salaries of the priests attached to them. The shrines of some favourite saints are so richly endowed as to be able to keep an immense staff of priests, servants, and hangers-on.

The orthodox Armenians are under a bishop residing at Ispahan; there are also a few hundred Roman Catholic Armenians in Persia. There is a wide tolerance exercised towards Armenians and Nestorians, Jews, and Guebres in cities where Europeans reside, in other places, however, the non-Mussulmans suffer under great oppression. Education is in a comparatively advanced state. There are a great number of colleges (medresseh), supported by public funds, in which students are instructed in religion and Persian and Arabic literature, as well as in a certain amount of scientific knowledge, and many schools for children, while private tutors are very common, being employed by all families who have the means. A polytechnic school with a number of European professors, opened in Teheran more than thirty years ago, has done much towards introducing the knowledge of western languages and science into Persia. There is also a military college at Teheran and a college at Tabrîz. A larger portion of the population of Persia are possessed of the rudiments of education than of any other country in Asia, except China.

Revenue and Army.

The revenue and expenditure of the Persian Government are known only from estimates. The total receipts of the Government amounted, on the average of the years 1873 to 1884, to 4,700,000 tomans per annum (four millions in cash and about 700,000 tomans in kind. From 1873 to 1878 the annual revenues amounted to about 4,500,000 tomans, but the grain received in lieu of revenue having a greater nominal value, they are now about 5,000,000 tomans. The value of the kran having since 1873 decreased by about 25 per cent., the revenues of Persia are at present, although nominally greater, actually less than what they were twelve years ago. In 1873 when 24 krans = 17., the revenues were 1,875,000l., while during the year 1884-85 when 31 krans 17. they were only 1,613,000l. Of this sum 264,300l. came from customs, the rest 1,348,700. from direct taxes. The expenditure for the year 1884-85 amounted to about 4,800,000 tomans (1,548,000l.), of this expenditure 612,9007. was for the army; 200,000l. for the royal court; 265,000l. for pensions to priesthood, princes, nobles, &c.; 260,000l. for foreign affairs; 48,000l. for other departments; 10,000l. for colleges; the remainder 286,100l. was expended for buildings, public works, purchase of arms and two steamers, &c. The surplus is paid into the Shah's treasury.

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About one-sixth of the receipts are constituted by payments in kind. The whole revenue is raised by assessments upon towns, villages, and districts, each of which has to contribute a fixed sum, the amount of which is changed from time to time by taxassessors appointed by the Government. Almost the entire burthen of taxation lies upon the labouring classes. The amount of revenue collected from the Christian population, the Jews, and the Guebres, is very small. The Government has no public debt.

The Persian army, according to official returns of the Minister of War, numbers 105,500 men, of whom 5,000 form the artillery (20 batteries), 53,900 the infantry (77 battalions), 25,200 the cavalry, regular and irregular, and 7,200 militia (24 battalions). Of these troops, however, only half are liable to be called for service, while the actual number embodied, that is the standing army, does not exceed 24,500. The number liable to be called for service is as follows:-Infantry, 35,400; irregular cavalry, but more or less drilled, 3,300; undrilled levies, 12,130; artillery, 2,500; camel artillery, 90; engineers, 100; total 53,520.

By a decree of the Shâh, issued in July 1875, it was ordered that the army should for the future be raised by conscription, instead of by irregular levies, and that a term of service of twelve years should be substituted for the old system, under which the mass of the soldiers were retained for life; but the decree has never been enforced.

The organisation of the army is by provinces, tribes, and districts. A province furnishes several regiments; a tribe gives one and sometimes two, and a district contributes one. The commanding officers are generally selected from the chiefs of the tribe or district from which the regiment is raised. The Christians, Jews, and Guebres, as well as the Musulman inhabitants of the Kashan and Yezd districts are exempt from all military service. The army has been under the training of European officers of different nationalities for the last thirty years or more.

The navy consists of two vessels, built at Bremenhaven-the Persepolis, screw steamship, 600 tons, 100 horse-power, armed with four 3-inch guns; and the Susa, a river steamer, on the Karun, of 30 horse-power, and with one 3-inch Krupp gun.

Area, Population, and Trade.

According to the latest and most trustworthy estimates, the country -extending for about 700 miles from north to south, and for 900 miles from east to west-contains an area of 628,000 square miles. A vast portion of this area is an absolute desert, and the population is everywhere so scanty as not to exceed, on the average, twelve

inhabitants to the square mile. According to the latest estimates, based on personal observation of travellers and statistics of the Persian Home Office, the population of Persia numbered in 1881

Of these there were 6.860,600 belonging to the Shia'h faith, 700,000 were Sunnis, 8,500 Parsis (Guebres), 19,000 Jews, 43,000 Armenians, and 23,000 Nestorians. The number of Europeans residing in Persia does not exceed 400.

The principal cities of Persia are-Teherân, estimated variously from 140,000 to 200,000; Tabriz, with 165,000; Ispahân, Meshed, each with 60,000; Bârfurûsh, with 50,000; Kermân, Yezd, each with 40,000; Hamadan, Kermâushâh, Shîrâz, Kazvîn, Kom, Kashân, Resht, each with 25,000 to 30,000 inhabitants. Of the nomads 260,000 are Arabs, 720,000 Turks, 675,000 Kurds and Leks, 20,700 Baluchis and Gipsies, 234,000 Lúrs.

The principal centres of commerce are Tabrîz, Teherân, and Ispahân; the principal ports, Bender Abbas, Lingah and Bushire in the Persian Gulf, and Enzeli, Meshed i Sar and Bender i Gez in the Caspian. There are no official returns of the value of the total imports and exports; the revenue from the customs being, however, known, the approximate value of the commerce may be calculated. The custom dues are for Europeans 5 per cent. ad valorem, for Persian subjects they vary from 3 per cent. to 8 per cent. The customs are farmed out to the highest bidders, whe generally make a good profit; the farm money, therefore, does not represent the actual sum taken for customs, which latter sum, it is estimated, is 20 per cent. in excess. Some years ago the Persian Government engaged a gentleman from Constantinople, Kitabgi, as Director of the Custom House, and it is due to him that the receipts of the Custom House are now much more than they were; he has, however, not been able to abolish the farm system. The following table shows the farm money received by Government for the years 1879 to 1885, the astimated amounts paid annually for customs, and the value of the imports and exports, obtained by taking the average of the duty at 4 per cent of the value.

The following figures have been obtained from Persian Gulf Consular Reports and from reports published by the Persian CustomHouse:

There is annually exported about 8,000 boxes of opium, valued at about 650,000l. The value of the imports into Bushire in 1885 was 796,9847., including 4,4341. specie; and exports, 595,6127., including 31,0601. specie. The leading import was cotton goods, 409,7867.; the leading exports, opium 340,240l., raw cotton 74,6267., and tobacco 42,2881. The number of vessels that entered Bushire in 1885 was 296, of 113,154 tons, and cleared 283, of 111,154 tons.

The direct trade of Persia with the United Kingdom is very small, according to the Board of Trade returns. In each of the five years 1881 to 1885 it was as follows:

The direct exports from Persia to Great Britain in 1885 consisted mainly of opium, valued at 24,5377., wheat 17,931., and shells 16,4027. Cotton goods, of the value of 231,7097., and copper (wrought and unwrought) 41,9747., were the staple articles of British imports in 1885.

Persia has a system of telegraphs consisting of 3,824 miles of line, with 6,124 miles of wire and 82 stations.

(a) 735 miles of line with three wires, that is, 2,205 miles of wire between Bushire and Teherân are worked by an English staff and form the Indo-European Telegraph Department in Persia,' an English Government department. (b) 415 miles of line with three wires, 1,245 miles of wire, between Teheran and Julfâ on the Russo-Persian frontier are worked by the Indo-European Telegraph Company. (c) 2,674 miles of single wire lines belong to the Persian Government and are worked by a Persian staff.

83,000 messages with a total of 1,176,000 words were transmitted by the English Government and Indo-European Telegraph Company's lines during the year 1883-84. The average time of transmission of a message from London to Karachi, the commencement of the Indian system, was during 1883-84 somewhat less than an hour. Statistics of the Persian telegraphs are not published.

The first regular postal service, established by an Austrian official in Persian employ, was opened January 1877. Under it mails are regularly conveyed to and from the principal cities in Persia. There is a service twice a week to and from Europe via Tabriz and Tiflis (letters to be marked 'Via Russia ') and a weekly service to India via Bushire. There are 73 post offices, and during the year 1884-85 the Persian post conveyed 1,368,835 letters, 2,050 postcards, 302,620 newspapers and printed matters, 7,455 samples and 173,995 parcels of a value of 304,7217. The receipts were 13,6117., the expenses 12,8701.

The only carriageable roads in Persia are Teherân-Kom and Teheran-Kazvin, each about 94 miles, and on them mails and travellers are conveyed by post-carts. The numerous schemes for the construction of railways, roads, &c., have up to now (September 1885) been unsuccessful.

Diplomatic Representatives.

1. OF PERSIA IN GREAT BRITAIN.

Envoy and Minister.-Mirza Malcom Khan, Nâzem ed-dowleh, accredited April 1, 1873. Secretary.-Mirza Mikail Khan.

2. OF GREAT BRITAIN IN PERSIA.

Teheran: Envoy, Minister, and Consul-General.-Sir Ronald Thomson, K.C.M.G., C.E.I.; appointed June 27, 1879.