'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎380] (433/714)

PERSIA
of Teheran. Three centuries ago it was a mere village ; but its
admirable position and the improved communication both'with the
Barfurush ca P ltal and tlie sea ) have combined to make it the most
considerable town on the Caspian sea-board. Little more
than a century ago (1771) Gmelin found it a poor place, in no
wise resembling a capital. And yet Fraser, in 1822, would have
us believe—the sole instance, so far as I know, in which his judg
ment was seriously at fault—that it had grown within that space
of time into a great city, as frequented as Isfahan, and with a
population alleged to consist of 300,000, but accepted by him as
200,000 persons. He went into positive ecstasies over 'the
spectacle of a city purely mercantile, governed by a merchant,
with no khans or nobles, peopled entirely with merchants, me
chanics, and their dependents, and prosperous and happy far beyond
any in Persia.' The people were as respectful and polite as their
town was admirable, and the bazaars, a mile in length, were as
excellent as the town. 1 Twelve years later Fraser returned to find
that the scourge of the plague had fallen in the interval upon this
earthly paradise of cities, and that the fanciful population of the
pie\ ious decade had fallen to o0,000. Since then it has partially
reco\ ered, although it is to be feared that the halcyon days of
Fraser's imagination will never return. Napier, in 1874, reported
its population as 50,000 (a greatly exaggerated estimate), its streets
as clean and well paved, its shops as well built, and its bazaars as
full ot European goods. The town is situated in the level country
about halfway between the base of the mountains and the sea, and
though surrounded by rich rice, sugar, and cotton plantations, is
so buried in forest trees as to be invisible from the exterior. In
the summer it is almost deserted by its inhabitants, who fly to the
mountains. On an island in a small lake or tank between the town
and the river stands a dilapidated villa belonging to the Shah.
The Russians keep a Consular agent here to superintend their trade
with the Caspian. I here has for long been a considerable number
of Jews resident in Barfurush, where they are engaged in retail
trade. A furious outbreak against them took place in 1866 and is
recorded by Mounsey. 2 It was suppressed by the vigorous action
of the Shah; but public opinion prevented him from inflicting
condign punishment upon the authors.
1 Travels South of the Caspian, cap. vii.
2 Journey through the Caucasus, pp. 273-282.