Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎447r] (896/1814)

October 6 , 1916.
JOUENAL OF THE EOYAL SOCIETY OF AETS.
789
oil-bearing nut, although the-two are not alike
in any other particular.
The Ghisochiton cumingianus (Harms) is
described as half ellipsoidal in shape, when
fresh, and as averaging 3 centimetres (1*18 in.)
in length, and 2 • 5 centimetres in width at
the widest portion. The shell is rather hard,
constituting about 60 per cent, of the total
weight, and it is difficult to separate it from
the meat. In a quantity of shelled nuts tested
by the Bureau of Science, which used petroleum
ether for the purpose, about 31 per cent, of the
whole nut was a reddish brown oil. The com
position of the dry kernels was found to be as
follows: Fat (by extraction), 44-12 per cent. ;
protein, 9 per cent. ; ash, 3-19 per cent.
The dry kernel yielded 35*56 per cent, of oil
on expression. The oil had a rancid odour, and
was non-drying. On experiment it was found to
have purgative properties. This oil, however,
was found to have a weaker laxative effect than
castor oil, five parts of it being approximately
equivalent to one part of castor oil. This oil,
more commonly called cato, was found by the
Bureau of Science to be valuable for soap-making.
One local firm now employs the oil in that
industry.
OPENING OF THE FIRST RAILWAY
IN PERSIA.
The following account of the opening of the
first railway in Persia is from a report on the
subject written by the United States Commercial
Attache at Petrograd (Mr. H. D. Baker), who
had the opportunity of witnessing this extremely
important event in the history of Persia. Mr.
Baker reached Tabriz about the beginning of
March last, travelling part of the way from the
Russian frontier by the new railway, which
was almost completed, and part of the way by
carriage. Several days after, the railway was
completed, and the first train arrived in Tabriz
gaily decorated with the flags of Russia and of
Persia. Thousands of people, including all the
foreign Consuls and other officials in the city,
came to witness the entrance of the first train,
and there was immense excitement as the blow
ing of whistles announced its approach. In
front of the locomotive was a huge emblem
showing the Persian lion with the sword, with
the sun in the background. The train consisted
only of goods waggons, the railway being at
present intended, not for carrying passengers, but
for military purposes.
The great crowds waited to see the train
start on its return journey. Through the courtesy
of the Russian military authorities, the Com
mercial Attache was permitted to be the first
passenger on this first train on its return to the
international boundary, one of the waggons
being specially furnished for his accommodation.
The train left Tabriz about 5 p.m., and the
distance of ninety-three miles to Jhulfa, on the
Aras River, separating Russian Transcaucasia
from Persia, was covered by 5 a.m. the following
morning. The journey would have taken three
days travelling by carriage.
After the train left Tabriz it was interesting
to watch the excitement occasioned among the
rural population. In the different villages the
people climbed up on the roofs of their mud
houses to see this great spectacle ; it was probaby
the first time that most of them had ever seen a
railway train. The sheep and cattle and teams
of horses along the route were greatly terrified.
When the train crossed the bridge over the
Aras River, its trip on the Persian side was
ended. As there is railway connection here for
Tiflis, and thence for all parts of Russia, there
is no reason, says the Commercial Attache, why
it might not be possible for trains to run from
any part of Russia to Tabriz, the chief com
mercial city of Persia. The gauge of the new
line is the same as that of the Russian railway
system, and the railway is under Russian control
and management. Possibly the railway may
be extended to Teheran, and thence south-east
to Ispahan, in ’Central Persia, and into Baluchi
stan, where it could connect up at Nushki with
the railway system of British India.
The railway now follows between Jhulfa and
Tabriz the line of the Indo-European telegraph
system of India. From the town of Sophian,
about twenty-five miles from Tabriz, a branch
of the railway has already been completed to
Lake Urumiah, which is a great body of intensely
salt water extending about 100 miles from north
to south in north-western Persia. Around this
lake is one of the richest districts of Persia,
producing large quantities of raisins and other
dried fruit, as well as considerable wine and
wool. The completion of the railway to Lake
Urumiah has made it possible to bring big motor-
boats to take the place of the old primitive
sailing-boats.
The railway to Tabriz, wdth its branch line
from Sophian to Lake Urumiah, will doubtless
cause an enormous development through all
this part of Persia. Much new land will be
opened up to agriculture, and various mines,
chiefly copper and wolfram, will be worked,
which have not been developed because of trans
portation difficulties. Although the railway is
to be used at present only for military purposes,
it is the intention later to devote it to the
interests of trade between Russia and Persia.
The railway will doubtless cause a diversion of
traffic to a large extent from the caravan route
from Trebizond in Turkey to the railway route
via Tiflis and other cities of the Caucasus.
Before the war the greater part of the trade of
north-western Russia went through the port of
Trebizond and through Persian and Russian
ports on the Caspian Sea. The Caspian Sea