The income received in kind is as follows:

The payments in kind are mostly reserved for the use of the army and the Shah's own household. 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 tax-assessors appointed by the government. Almost the entire burthen of taxation lies upon the labouring classes, and, among these, upon the Mahometan subjects of the Shah. The amount of revenue collected from the Christian population, the Jews, and the Guebres, is very trifling.

Although the public revenue of Persia is comparatively small, it is in excess of expenditure, which was reported as follows for the year 1868:

The Persian Government has. no debt.. The balance due for many years by the Shah to Russia on account of the expenses of the war concluded in 1828, amounting to about 200,000l., was cancelled by the present Shah in 1856.

The Persian army, according to official returns of the Minister of War, numbers 105,500 men, of whom 5,000 form the artillery, 70,000 the infantry, and 30,500 the cavalry, regular and irregular. Of the total of these troops, however, only one-third are employed on active service, the standing army of Persia consisting, on the peace-footing, of:

The remainder of the 105,500 troops enumerated in the government returns form the reserve. The soldiers composing it are allowed to reside in their own villages and districts, where they may engage in agricultural and other pursuits, subject to no drill or military discipline, the infantry and artillery being usually disarmed when placed on this footing. They, as well as the irregular cavalry, are liable, however, to be called out at any moment, on the requisition of the Minister for War.

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 battalion to the army. The commanding officers are almost invariably selected from the chiefs of the tribe or district from which the regiment is raised.' The Christians, Jews, and Guebres in Persia are exempt from all military service.

Area, Population, and Trade.

The area and population of Persia are known only by estimates.. According to the latest and most trustworthy of these, the country -extending for about 700 miles from north to south, and for 900 miles from east to west-contains an area of 648,000 square miles. A vast portion of this area is, however, an absolute desert, and the population is everywhere so scanty as not to exceed, on the average, seven inhabitants to the square mile. According to a carefully made estimate, furnished by the British secretary of legation, in May 1868, the population of Persia at that period numbered :

The largest cities of Persia are-Tauris, or Tabreez, with 210,000; Tehran, with 85,000; Ispahan, with 60,000; and Yezd, with 40,000 inhabitants. The one million of inhabitants of towns constitute the pure Persian race, and more than half of the remaining population belongs to the Turkish, Lek, Koordish, and Arab tribes, which are spread over the whole of the Shah's territory. In some provinces, such as Khorassan, and in the districts contiguous to the Turkish and Russian frontiers, nearly the entire population belongs to one or other of these tribes.

The population of Persia is believed to be steadily declining in numbers, owing to the ravages of the plague, the general absence of sanitary laws, the results of polygamy, and various other not well ascertained causes.

A

The whole external trade of Persia may be roughly valued at 4,000,000l. sterling annually, of which 2,500,000l. may be taken as the value of the imports, and 1,500,000l. as that of the exports. diminution in the latter to the extent of nearly 1,000,000l. sterling has taken place within the last three years, owing to the failure of the most important industry of the country, the silk production.

The imports from Europe and India into Persia consist of cotton manufactures, cloths, silks, cotton yarns, cochineal, sugar, tea, jewellery, cutlery, china, crystal, glass-ware, iron, brass, and copper in sheets, tin, paper, indigo, and fire-arms; and the exports, of raw silk, raw cotton, tobacco, opium, wheat, gall-nuts, wool, furs, madder-root, dried fruits, shawls of inferior quality, and coarse calico for the Russian and Turkish markets.

The trade with Europe is carried on almost entirely over the northern frontier, by way of Trebizonde and Georgia, through Tauris. In the year 1867, the imports and exports over this frontier were as follows:

The greater part of the commerce of Persia centers at Tauris, which is the chief emporium for the productions of Northern India, Samarcand, Bokhara, Cabul, and Beloochistan. It is stated in a French report, that the European imports into Tauris amounted, in the year 1868, to 60,000,000 francs or 2,400,000l., whereas in 1840 they were only 40,000,000 or 1,600,000l. All the European merchandise that reaches Tauris passes by Constantinople to Trebizonde, whence it is forwarded by caravans. Most of this trade to Persia is in the hands of Persian merchants residing at Tauris. There are also in that city three European houses. The principal of these is the Russian firm Ralli, which was founded in 1837. As this firm was long without a rival, it had for a time almost a monopoly of the European commerce in Persia.

The direct trade of Persia with Great Britain is of the smallest. There were no exports from Persia to Great Britain in 1863 and 1864, while in 1865 they amounted to only 5177. in value, in 1866 to ll., in 1867 to 9601., and in 1868 to 201. The imports of British produce into Persia direct were of the value of 530l., in 1864; of 16,243. in 1865; of 25,9067. in 1866; of 14,0691. in 1867; and of 17,4987. in 1868. The imports of 1868 consisted mainly of cottons and cotton yarn, valued at 4,711/., of copper, 5,693l., and of refined sugars, 3,7331. In 1867, the British cotton imports amounted to 4,199., and in 1866 to 22,5087.

Money, Weights, and Measures.

The money, weights, and measures of Persia, and the British equivalents, are:

The gold coins of Persia, consisting of Tomans, five-Keran and two-Keran pieces, contain no alloy.

Besides the weights and measures here enumerated there exist

a great variety of local standards. In foreign commerce, Russian weights and measures are largely used.

Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning Persia.

1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Report, by Mr. Ronald F. Thomson, British Secretary of Legation, on the Population, Revenue, Military Force, and Trade of Persia, dated Tehran, April 20, 1868; in 'Reports of H. M.'s Secretaries of Embassy and Legation.', 8. No. 4. 1868.

Report by Mr. W. J. Dickson, British Secretary of Legation, on the Trade and Industry of Persia, dated Gulaheh, July 3, 1865; in Reports of H. M.'s Secretaries of Embassy and Legation.' No. XI. 8. London, 1866.

Reports by Mr. Abbott, British Consul at Resht, and Consul-General at Tabreez, dated March 31, 1865, and April 30, 1866, on the Imports and Exports of Persia; in Commercial Reports received at the Foreign Office,, 1865-66.' 8. London, 1866.

Annual Statement of the Trade and Navigation of the United Kingdom. 4. London, 1869.

2. NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Blaramberg (General), Statistical Survey of Persia, made in the years 1837-40. (In Russian.) 8. St. Petersburg, 1853.

Blau (Dr. Otto), Commerzielle Zustände Persiens. 8. Berlin, 1858.

Brugsch (Dr. Heinr.), Reise der k. preussischen Gesandtschaft nach Persien, 1860 und 1861. 2 vols. 8. Leipzig, 1864.

Eastwick (E. B.), Journal of a Diplomate's Three Years' Residence in Persia. 2 vols. 8. London, 1864.

Kinneir (J. M.), Geographical Memoir of the Persian Empire. 4. London,

1813.

Polak (Dr. Jak. Ed.), Persien. Das Land und seine Bewohner. graphische Schilderungen. 2 vols. 8. Leipzig, 1865.

Ethno

Sheil (Lady), Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia. 8. London, 1856. Spiegel (Friedrich) Eran: das Land zwischen Indus und Tigris. 8. Berlin,

1863.

Ussher (John), Journey from London to Persepolis, including Wanderings in Daghestan, Georgia, Armenia, Kurdistan, Mesopotamia, and Persia. 8. London, 1866,

Wheeler (Rev. C. H.) Ten years on the Euphrates. 16. Boston, 1868.