‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎233r] (472/722)

which was the peculiar headdress of his tribe (the Kajars); and so nice are
some persons ot ^reat taste in this article of dress, that they will only wear
caps made of skins taken from unborn lambs, as having a shorter and finer
fur than any others. A cap of this sort will sometimes cost ^.s high as 24
reals (32.s\). These skins are also used in lining baranis and pelisses for
winter; and might probably, if introduced into this country, become fashion
able as a beautiful and comfortable fur.
Coffee is, I believe, entirely brought from Arabia by the ports of the
gulf. I do not know if any attempt has been made to introduce that
article from other quarters.
Specie .— Persia itself possesses no mines of the precious metals; and
yet there is not only an abundant supply of currency in the country, but a
very large sum is annually exported to India, in return for the produce
required from thence. It becomes an interesting subject of enquiry
how a country, apparently so poor as Persia, is become possessed of so great
a quantity of the representative of riches. To discuss the subject at large
would perhaps occupy too much space and time. I will, therefore, state as
shortly as I am able the result of my enquiries.
It appears, in the first place, that the indigenous exports of Persia,
though little in proportion to her extent of surface, do in reality greatly
exceed her imports. Her silk, her cotton, her grain, and her manufactures,
form an aggregate of great value, for the greater part of which she is paid
in specie by the consumers at Baghdad, Aleppo, Constantinople, and the
other cities of the Turkish empire, as well as by the Russians from Astrakhan
and Tiflis.
It must also be held in remembrance that a large proportion of the
valuable Indian produce which enters Persia is re-exported to the countries
west of it, and thus returns with interest the specie of which it drained the
kingdom for a time.
We see a variety of coins current in Persia. French and Grerman
crowns and Spanish dollars are brought in large quantities from Baghdad,
but seldom pass into circulation, being for the most part transmitted by
sea to India. Golden ducats and silver manets, which form the medium
of traffic on the frontiers with Turkey and Georgia, are poured in from
these quarters, as well as from Astrakhan. It is stated that the Georgian
merchants, trading between Tillis and Tabriz, alone bring annually 300,000
ducats in gold to the latter city. The remittances made to the Russian
Mission there are in the same coin. Nor is there a small addition made to
the aggregate by the rich ecclesiastical establishment at Uch Kahsah, the
seat of the Armenian church, which receive large revenues, both obligatory
and voluntary, from Russia, Turkey, Persia, and India, all of which are
paid in foreign coin.
Thus a large current of the precious metals flows annually into Persia;
and though the greater proportion passes on to the eastward, there still
remains a very sufficient quantity to form the currency of the country,
the treasury of the king, and the hoards of the few rich individuals in the
kingdom. Much of the gold remains current under its original form
of ducats; the rest is coined into tumans. The silver is all coined into
reals, manets being only current in the western parts of the kingdom
bordering on Turkey and the Russian terntoiies.