"دليل بلاد فارس، المجلد I ويشمل محافظات أستراباد، شاهرود-بوستان، خراسان، وسيستان" [ظ‎‎٢‎٣‎٥] (٧٢٢/٤٧٧)

424
The above reflections will add foi’ce to the assertion we make, that some
Her mercantile posi- the natural conditions of Persia, considered as a
tion as a country of country of tliG modern worlds rig most untaYourable
the modern world. ^e development of trade. Its centre is one vast
desert. It has no rivers of importance; and formidable ranges of mountains
cut off the interior from both its seas.
The bad Caspian harbours could only be improved at enormous cost.
Difficulties of »„vi- The ports and anchorage of the Persian Gulf are gen-
gation in the Caspian erally indifferent j and the navigation is dimcult tor saii-
andPersian Gulf. j n g. vesse ls, owing to the almost continuous west wind.
The Kanin river could only be made navigable for lo5 miles, even were
the dam, which now interrupts its course, cut away, or evaded by locks.
The broken nature of the country must long interfere with good roads and
railways.
The present condition of the trade of Persia is due to a combination of
Causes Of the present the broad causes which we have sketched, with the fob
condition of Persian lowing special aggravations,
trade.
For many years the government has been bad. In the year 1870 the
great famine occurred. Since then we have had the failure of the silk
worm, the war of 1870, and the plague of 1877.
It is not, therefore, surprising that a trustworthy authority rec
ently expressed the opinion, that the country was on the verge of bank
ruptcy.
There are really no reliable data of the details of the trade of Persia.
^ , , An immense amount of miscellaneous information is
to he found under the various commercial towns in
MacGregor’s Gazetteer, and much that is valuable in the yearly Consular
Reports and the Persian Gulf Administration Reports.
We have generally preferred with regard to these to take the year
1875 or 1876, as some time after the famine and previous to the
war.
But even the carefully drawn reports alter largely without apparent
reason, or remain at precisely the same figure in two successive years.
We, therefore, mention any numbers under this reservation, that they may
have some relative value in the comparison of different productions, bm
must not be considered as very accurate in themselves. The truth is, the
system of farming the customs to the highest bidder, and the malversation
which permeates the whole course of Persian commerce, render any state
ments of mere figures of little practical value.
The total trade of Persia is estimated in the Statesman’$ Tear Booh at
£4,000,000 sterling annually, of which £2,500,000 may be taken as the value
of imports and £1,500,000 as that of exports, or £1,000,000 as against
Persia. This is considered by a well-informed merchant too Iowan estimate,
nnd one that might be taken more nearly as the trade of the south that
is, Bushahr and the gulf ports. Old estimates in MacGregor’s Gazetteer
i egarding the trade of Bandar Abbas and Bushahr before 1871 would
living out for the whole country much higher figures; and in Consul
Churchill’s Report of 1877, he states that the exports of 1876 from
Gilan alone exceeded the imports by £480,000, although his own reports on
an average of five previous years only give £140,000. On the other hand,
it is said that Persia has been for many years a large exporter of specie,