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CHAPTER XIX.

Of the Trade of Persia.

PERSIA is a country which has very little inland trade; it has few navigable rivers; neither does it produce many things in sufficient abundance to allow of exportation. Small quantities of wheat, rice, barley, dates, and almonds, are exported from the country about Bushire to Muscat, and to the ports in the gulf. There are manufactories of silk at Kashan and Yezd; but they do not fabricate more than supplies the consumption of the country. The cloths however, of Isfahan, Kashan, and Yezd, are exported from Persia into Russia, whence they bring in return broad cloths, velvets, satins, and cutlery.

The situation of Yezd makes it the emporium for all the trade of Persia; coarse purpets are sent there in large quantities, and are sold to the Ousbeg Tartars, and to the people of Khorasan; the merchant makes his returns in silk, carpets, felts, and the shawls of Cashmire. There are many cities in Persia which supply the adjacent towns with the produce of their manufactories; at Kirman they make shawls, which are worn by the poor people, and are sent all over Persia; but, speaking generally, they rely almost entirely on foreigners for furnishing them with articles of dress and luxury. Persia produces large quantities of gums and drugs, particularly asafoetida, which is in great demand in India. The Americans have lately sent one or two ships to Bushire and Bussora to take in a cargo of drugs; but, I believe,

they were greatly disappointed, for the haste they were in did not permit of the merchants procuring supplies from the inland country.

Pearls of every description are sent in quantities to India, where they are esteemed superior to those of Ceylon. Chests of wine and rose water are likewise sent there, but the number is very inconsiderable. Tavernier mentions, that 4125 tons of wine were annually made at Sheeraz ;* but this is by no means the case at present, for every man in Persia manufactures his own wine, and the tation of it to foreign countries must be very trifling. The most advantageous trade for the merchants is probably in horses; of which numbers are sent by every vessel to the different ports in India.

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The merchants of Persia are a shrewd, sensible, and thrifty class of people, willing to undergo any hardship if they have a prospect of making money. Many of them visit India; others send agents to manage their concerns, particularly to Massulipatam, to superintend the manufacture of chintz. They often undertake long journies, frequently to Cashmire, where they supply themselves with shawls. Besides the danger of this journey, they can seldom hope to receive the returns for their money before the expiration of three years; from which it is easy to form some notion of their profits, and of the present state of the trade in Persia. The trade of Persia is comparatively of very little advantage to the state; it adds but little to the revenue, and affords employment to a small number of mulateers. For there is a vast difference in the trade of a country, where the stock of a merchant is changed twice or oftener a year, and where it is not changed more than once in one, two, and sometimes three years. Many of the Arabs and Persians, instead of employing their capitals in

Tavernier, p. 428.

such hazardous and uncertain speculations, have invested part of it in building ships, which they hire out upon freight. Those which visit Bushire and Bussora, are loaded by the owners with horses; and the freight which they get in treasure, &c. makes this a very profitable concern.

CHAPTER XX.

Of the Customs, Taxes, &c.

THE taxes and customs of Persia are divided under a number of separate heads, and are let out by government to the highest renter. The duty on goods imported into Persia, amounts, at Bushire, to about five per cent.; for although it is nominally much more, yet, as the goods are passed much below their value, it seldom exceeds this sum.* I have already noticed that between Bushire and Sheeraz there are nine Rahdarees: but the duty which they levy does not, in the whole, amount to half a piastre per cent. At Sheeraz the caravans are stopped at the custom-house, where the goods are examined and valued, and upon which a duty of two and a half per cent is levied. Here there is infinite trouble; for it is the business of the custom master to over-rate, and the interest of the merchant to undervalue his merchandize as much as possible. This altercation is usually terminated by a bribe; and this is probably the only additional duty imposed on the merchant's property.

Formerly there used to be great disputes about passing bales of shawls; but the king, to prevent the impositions which were usually practised, has ordered that each bale is to pay according to its weight, and not to its supposed value. A caravan going to any of the cities in Irak, from Bushire, must pay the duties at Sheeraz ; if it passes Isphahan, at that city; and, in short, at every city it may pass through where duties are levied. Probably by the time a

The Sheikh of Bushire, in addition to the customs, takes one piece of chintz from every bale imported into Persia. This amounts to about five thousand piastres.

caravan reaches the banks of the Caspian Sea, the merchants may have paid thirty per cent. on their goods.

A monthly tax is imposed upon every shopkeeper; and, as far as I could learn, no distinction is made between those who have much or little business. The sum is very trifling, and all the merchants are exempted from paying it. But the description of people who pay the heaviest tax to government, are the female dancer, and the votaries of pleasure. They exercise their professions under the immediate patronage of the governor; their names, ages, &c. are carefully registered, and if one should die or marry, another instantly supplies her place.* They are divided into classes, agreeably to their merits, and the estimation they are held in; each class inhabit separate streets, so that you may descend from the doo Toomunees to the Pooli Seeahs, without the chance of making mistakes.

I took notice, in the chapter upon the police, of people being stationed at the gates of the city to prevent the inhabitants from leaving it without the permission of the governor; there are others who levy a toll of a half-penny upon each beast of burthen who enters the city with a load. This is a privilege of the Kutwal's, who is the commandant of the citadel.

These are all the duties, I believe, which are levied in Persia; there possibly may be some that have escaped unnoticed, but they will, at any rate, prove to be trifling. I shall conclude this chapter by remarking, that no difference is made in favour of the produce of Persia; nor are the duties upon the manufactures of one country higher than upon those of another.

This is a long established custom, see Tavernier's Account of the Kings.

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