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, who 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. The following table shows the farm money received by Government for the years 1880 to 1889, the estimated 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 imports consist mostly of cotton fabrics, cloth, glass, woollen goods, carriages, sugar, petroleum, tea, coffee, drugs, &c. The exports principally consist of dried fruits, opium, cotton and wool, silk, carpets, pearls, turquoises, rice, &c.

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

There are annually exported about 8,000 boxes of opium, valued at about 650,000l. The leading import into Bushire in 1889 was cotton goods, 420,5957.; the leading exports, opium, 321,5217.; raw cotton, 79,3681.; and tobacco, 31,6381. From Shiraz the chief exports were opium, 181,3334.; raw cotton, 66,1887.; carpets, 27,3501. Chief imports: cotton goods, 140,9987; indigo, 21,8267. Chief exports from Lingah: pearls, 306,6677.; cotton goods, 99,8297.; grain and pulse, 36,6157. Imports: pearls, 304,9571.; cotton goods, 104,6157. Chief exports from Bender Abbas: opium, 129,2317. Imports: cotton goods, 136,085; tea, 60,0867. The share of Great Britain and India in the trade of Persia is shown as follows

The transit trade of Persia, according to a British Foreign Office report, amounted to 943,7707. for imports in 1884 (704,4937. from Great Britain), and 610,4907. in 1887 (471,700l. from Great Britain); for exports 303,9701. in 1887 (21,6007. to Great Britain).

The direct trade of Persia with the United Kingdom in each of the five years 1885 to 1889 was as follows, according to the Board of Trade

The direct exports from Persia to Great Britain in 1889 consisted mainly of opium, valued at 11,5077., wheat 17,9317. in 1885, 1,7657. in 1886, nil in 1887, 33,1957. in 1888, 55,4547. in 1889, and pearl shells, 27,4147. Cotton goods, of the value of 256,9401., and copper (wrought and unwrought) 21,7967., were the staple articles of British imports in 1889.

The number of vessels that entered Bushire in 1889 was 270 of 118,570 tons (147 of 111,745 tons British), besides native craft; entered Bender Abbas 460 vessels of 114,396 tons (113 of 104,494 tons British).

Money and Credit.

The Shah in 1889 granted a concession to Baron Julius de Reuter for the formation of an Imperial Bank of Persia, with head office at Teheran, and branches in the chief cities. The bank was formed in the autumn of the same year, and incorporated by Royal Charter granted by H.M. the Queen, and dated September 2, 1889. The authorised capital is 4 millions sterling, which may be increased. The bank has the exclusive right of issuing bank-notes-not exceeding 800,000l. without the assent of the Persian Government. The issue of notes shall be at first on the basis of the silver krán. The coin in reserve for ten years must be 50 per cent., afterwards 33 per cent. The bank has the exclusive right of working throughout the Empire the iron, copper, lead, mercury, coal, petroleum, manganese, borax, and asbestos mines, not already conceded. It started business in Persia in October 1889, and in April 1890 took over the Persian business of the New Oriental Bank Corporation (London), which had established branches and agencies in Persia in the summer of 1888. The mining rights have been ceded to the Persian Bank Mining Rights Corporation, Limited, which was formed in April 1890.

Internal Communications.

A small railway from Teheran to Shah abdul-azîm (six miles) was opened in July 1888. Another from Mâhmûdabad on the Caspian to Barfurûsh

and Amol (twenty miles) is at present (December 1890) under construction. The former is in the hands of a Belgian company, the latter is a private undertaking by a Persian merchant. The river Karûn at the head of the Persian Gulf has been opened to foreign navigation as far as Ahwaz, and Messrs. Lynch Brothers are running a steamer on it once a fortnight.

The only carriageable roads in Persia are Teheran-Kom and TeheranKazvin, each about 94 miles, and on the latter mails and travellers are conveyed by post-carts. A concession for the construction of a cart roa and the establishment of a regular transport service from Teheran to Ahwaz has lately been granted to an English Company.

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. During the year 1887-88, 75,509 messages, with a total of 1,184,799 words, were transmitted by the English Government and Indo-European Telegraph Company's lines. The average time of transmission of a message between India and England was one hour and nine minutes. 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 Resht 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 post-cards, 302,620 newspapers and printed matter, 7,455 samples, and 173,995 parcels of a value of 304,7217. The receipts were 13,6117., the expenses 12,8701.

Money, Weights, and Measures.

MONEY.

The

The monetary unit is the krân, a silver coin, formerly weighing 28 nakhods (88 grains), then reduced to 26 nakhods (77 grains), now weighing only 24 nakhods (71 grains) or somewhat less. The proportion of pure silver was before the new coinage (commenced 1877) 92 to 95 per cent.; it was then for some time 90 per cent., and is now about 894 per cent. value of the krân has in consequence much decreased. In 1874 a krân had the value of a franc, 25 being equal to 17.; in December 1888 a 17. bill on London was worth 34 krâns. In the month of April 1888 a 17. bill on London was worth 363 to 37 krâns. In consequence of the price of silver having risen, the value of a krân is at present (August 1890) 7 d., a 17. bill on London being worth 32 krâns.

Five-Shâhî, ten-shâhì, and five-krân pieces are rarely coined.

Gold:

Toman, Toman, 1 Toman, 2, 5, and 10 Tomans.

The Toman is nominally worth 10 Krans; very few gold pieces are in circulation, and a gold Toman is at present worth 12.2 Kráns=78. 7}d. Accounts are reckoned in dìnârs, an imaginary coin, the ten-thousandth part of a toman of ten krâns. A kran therefore 1,000 dînârs; one shâhî 50 dinars.

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WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

The unit of weight is the miskâl (71 grains), subdivided into 24 nakhods (2.96 grains) of 4 gandum (74 grain) each. Sixteen miskâls make a sîr, and 5 sir make an abbâssî, also called wakkeh, kervânkeh. Most articles are bought and sold by a weight called batman or man. The mans most frequently in use are:

Corn, straw, coal, &c., are sold by Kharvár = 100 Tabriz Mans = 649.

nse.

The unit of measure is the zar or gez; of this standard several are in The most common is the one of 40.95 inches; another, used in Azerbaijan, equals 44:09 inches. A farsakh theoretically 6,000 zar of 40.95 inches=3.87 miles. Some calculate the farsakh at 6,000 zar of 44:09 inches 4.17 miles.

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The measure of surface is jerib = 1,000 to 1,066 square zar of 40.95 inches = 1,294 to 1,379 square yards.

Diplomatic Representatives.

1. OF PERSIA IN GREAT BRITAIN.

Envoy and Minister.-Mirza Mahomet Ali Khan A'a-es-Sultané, accredited March 4, 1890.

Counsellor.-General Mikail Khan.
Secretary.-Mohammed Ali Khan.
Consul-General.-L. W. Cloete.

2. OF GREAT BRITAIN IN PERSIA.

Teheran: Enroy, Minister, and Consul-General.-Right Hon. Sir Henry Drummond-Wolff, G.C.B., G.C.M.G.

First Secretary.-R. J. Kennedy, C.M.G.

Tabriz: Consul - General.-Colonel Charles Edward Stewart, C.B., C M.G., C.I.E.

Resht: Consul.-T. H. Guinness.

Bushire: Political Resident and Consul-General.-Colonel E. C. Ross. Meshed: Consul-General.—Major-General C. S. Maclean, C.B., C.1.E. There are agents at Shîrâz, Ispahân, Kermanshah, Hamadân, and Astrabâd.

Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning Persia.

1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Report by Mr. Baring on the Opium Trade and Cultivation, 1881, in 'Reports of H.M.'s Secretaries of Embassy and Legation.' Part I. And by Mr. Dickson on the Trade of Persia, in Part VI. London, 1882.

Report by Mr. Herbert on the Present State of Persia, and her Mineral Resources, in 'Reports from H.M.'s Diplomatic and Consular Officers.' Part IV. London, 1886.

Eastern Persia: an Account of the Journeys of the Persian Boundary Commission, 1870-72. 2 vols. 8. 1876.

Report for 1889 on the Trade of the Persian Gulf, in No. 760 of 'Diplomatic and Consular Reports.' London, 1890.

Reports on the Trade and Industries of Persia, in No. 113 of 'Diplomatic and Consular Reports.' 1887.

Report for 1889-90 on the Trade of Tabreez, in No. 798 of 'Diplomatic and Consular Reports.' London, 1890.

Trade of Persia with Great Britain, in Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom in the year 1889.' Imp. 4. London, 1890.

2. NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Bassett (James), Persia, the Land of the Imâns. London, 1886.

Benjamin (S. G. W.), Persia and the Persians. London, 1886.

Binning (R. B. M.), A Journal of Two Years' Travel in Persia, Ceylon, &c. 2 vols. 8. London, 1857.

Blaramberg (General), Statistische Uebersicht von Persien. Vol. ii. of Journal of Russian Geographical Society.' St. Petersburg, 1841.

Blau (Dr. O.), Commercielle Zustaende Persiens. Berlin, 1858.

Brugsch (Dr. H.), Reise der k. preuss. Gesandtschaft nach Persien, 1860-61. 2 vols. 8. Leipzig, 1864.

Curzon (Hon. G.), The Karun River. Proc. R.G.S. 1890.

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

Ferrier (J. J. P.), Caravan Journeys and Wanderings in Persia, &c. 8. London, 1856. Floyer (E. A.), Unexplored Baluchistan. London, 1882.

Gobineau (Ch. de), Les religions et les philosophies de l'Asie centrale. 8. Paris, 1865. Macgregor (Col. C. M.), Narrative of a Journey through the Province of Khorassan and the North-West Frontier of Afghanistan in 1875. 2 vols. 8. London, 1879.

Malcolm (Sir John), History of Persia. 2 vols. 4to. London, 1815. 2 vols. 8. London,

1829.

Malcolm (Sir John), Sketches of Persian Life and Manners. 2 vols. 8, London, 1828, Markham (Clements R.), General Sketch of the History of Persia. 8. London, 1874. Polak (Dr. J. E.), Persien, das Land und seine Bewohner. 2 vols. 8, Leipzig, 1865. Sheil (Lady), Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia. 8. London, 1856. Stack (E.), Six Months in Persia. 2 vols. London, 1882. Stolze (F.) and Andreas (F. C.), Die Handelsverhältnisse Persiens, 'Petermann's Mitteilungen,' Ergänzungsheft. No. 77. Gotha, 1883.

Watson (R. Grant), A History of Persia, from the Beginning of the Nineteenth Ceatury to the year 1858. 8. London, 1873.

Wills (Dr. C. J.), The Land of the Lion and Sun. 8. London, 1883.

Wills (Dr. C. J.), Persia as it is. London, 1886.