‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎258r] (522/722)

469
Tumdns.
Attendants of the diwankhana, or ' court of justice ’ ... 2,764
Tutors and attendants of the dar-ul-funun w’al-uliim, or ‘ seat
of arts and science ’ ... ... ... 7,750
Loss of revenue by the transfer of two villages to the Ministers
of England and Russia for their summer residence ... 141
Musketeers of the Shah’s own person ... ... 9,640
Ghulam-i-pxshkhidmat, ‘ special mounted guards ’ and other
mounted guards ... ... ... ... 103,549
I omit any mention of attendants and expenses connected with the
Shah’s own person for the maintenance of regal state ; but I may mention
that in proportion to the resources of Persia the expenditure is considerable.
To all the above receivers of salaries a certain portion of grain is also
allotted.
The total expenditure, from the net revenue of 2,677,000 tumans, is
summed up in the following manner :—■
Tutndns.
General expenses, including presents, buildings, posting estab
lishment, &c. ... ... „.. 335,521
Amalajat salaries at the capital ... ... ... 805,985
Total military expenses ... ... ... 1,222,764
Provincial expenses (besides the ordinary provincial expenses
not included in the net revenue) ... ... ... 292,331
Total ... 2,656,601
The balance, when there is any, is spent in various uncertain expenses,
such as diamond-hilted swords, decorations, extraordinary military expenses
caused by insurrection, &c.
The three principal branches of the tribute, which the people pay, are,
first, maliat; second, sadir; and third, pfshkash.
The maliat is the hereditary original right of the crown, and consists
in produce and money. The king gets in kind one-fifth of the produce of
the land, i.e., of wheat, barley, silk, tobacco, indigo, &c., and articles of
that description, and one-fifth in money of all the vegetables, fruit, and
lesser produce of the earth, which the proprietor may sell. Though the
proportion be paid in kind, yet it is assessed, not by the actual levy of
every fifth sheaf, &e., but by an indirect criterion of produce deduced from
the number of oxen kept by the landholder ; and this part of the revenue
is collected accordingly by a corresponding rate imposed upon the growth
of the land. Thus the possessor of twelve oxen is supposed to possess also
an extent of land the cultivation of which may require that number, and is,
therefore, assessed to pay a quantity of corn proportioned to the assumed
amount of his gross receipt.
The king collects one-fifth, also in money, on all the vegetables, fruits,
and lesser produce of the earth, which the proprietor may sell. Formerly
these tributes, either in kind or in money, were only one-tenth ; but their
amount has been doubled by the present king.
The inhabitants of towns pay according to an assessment imposed on
the place, and founded on the number of houses which it may contain, and
not according to their individual means ; and this levy on any particular town
is but a part only of that charged on the district which contains it. Thus,
Isfahan,—which, for instance, has Kum and Kashan within its administration,
—is required to furnish a specified sum, of which it pays part, and divides the