"دليل بلاد فارس، المجلد I ويشمل محافظات أستراباد، شاهرود-بوستان، خراسان، وسيستان" [ظ‎‎٢‎٥‎٩] (٧٢٢/٥٢٥)

472
First casual pishkashes are presents made by all persons when appointed
to situations under government.
Secondly, what may be termed involuntary presents, made by all persons
dismissed from their office; and by persons called up to the court in order
to settle their accounts or for some other purposes.
Thirdly, money extorted from individuals on various pretexts.
It is difficult to form a correct notion of the amount of each of these
sources of revenue ; but I imagine that, independent of the pishkash of the
'Nauruz the amount of all the other presents cannot amount to less than
one-fifth of the maliat, so that I have estimated the whole of the pishkash at
three-fifths of the revenue.
Sddirs may be termed fresh or new impositions. They are of various
kinds, and I can only enumerate a few of the most important.
A large body of infantry, as well as regulars, who are now trained in the
European discipline, are furnished, equipped, and paid by the different
provinces of the empire.* The number of men furnished in this manner
may amount to 25,000 ; and if we estimate their pay at the low rate of ten
tumans annually each man,t this sadir, or imposition, will amount to two
lakhs and fifty thousand.
When muskets, matchlocks, &c., are required for the army, they are
generally ordered to be furnished gratis by the different districts of the
kingdom.
Detachments of troops marching through the country receive at every
stage provisions. On account of this a deduction ought to be made from
the° maliat; but this is seldom done, and the expense becomes a sadir in
consequence, and is defrayed by the province.
« The building of forts and palaces and the repairing of them, the form
ation of royal gardens, and the repairs of aqueducts on the king’s lands,
are all expenses borne by the province in which these works become
necessary.
“ These are some of the principal sadirs, which, by saving the expenditure
of the treasury, may be considered as actual revenue, and the amount of
which I have estimated at two-fifths of the maliat, so that the amounu of
pishkash and sadirs equals the amount of the regular revenues. We
must not, however, suppose that this is the whole amount paid by the
raiyats. S urns are extorted from them, which never reach the royal treasury;
and even the officers who are sent to receive the regular revenues, independ
ently of the 5 per cent, to which they are entitled, carry with them a train
of followers, who, under various pretences, contrive to rob and plunder the
cultivators or raiyats, in so much that in the province of Ears the amount of
sadirs, or impositions of various descriptions, is at least five times the
amount of the regular revenue. In general, the more distant the province
is from the capital, the more oppressive those in position are. They cannot,
however, be considered as a part of the revenue. In fact, their ultimate
effect is to diminish the revenue, by impoverishing the country to such a
degree, that it is at least found difficult even to raise the maliat. ”
* Most of the cavalry are also furnished and paid hy the different provinces; but a deduction,
to the amount of the expense, is made from the amount of the fixed revenue of the province.
+ This is the rate at which the infantry are paid that receive their regular pay from govern
ment, the number of which is about fifteen thousand.