country, have arrived at such distinction in Europe. Nor are
these to be obtained, as supposed, at Angora in Asia Minor. Van
or Isfahan is a more likely habitat. The cat at the first place,
called by the Turks “Van kedisi,” has a certain local reputation.
Among the wild animals are the lion, tiger, leopard, lynx, brown
bear, hyena, hog, badger, porcupine, pole-cat, weasel, marten,
wolf, jackal, fox, hare, wild ass, wild sheep, wild cat, mountain goat,
gazelle and deer. The tiger is peculiar to the Caspian provinces.
Lovett says they are plentiful in Astrabad; he measured
two specimens, one 10 ft. 8 in., the other 8 ft. 10 in. from the tip
of the nose to the end of the tail. Lynxes and bears were to be
found in the same vicinity, and the wild pig was both numerous
and destructive.
According to Blanford there are about four hundred known species of birds in Persia. The game birds have admirable representatives in the pheasant, “karkavul” (Phasianus colchicus, L.); snowcock or royal partridge, “kebk-i-dari” (Tetraogallus Caspius, Gmel); black partridge, “durraj” (Francolinus vulgaris, Steph.); red-legged partridge, “kebk” (Caccabis chukar, Gray); sand-partridge or seesee, “tihu” (Ammoperdix bonhami, Gray); Indian grey partridge, “jirufti” (Ortygornis ponticerianus, Gmel.); quail, “belderjin” (Coturnix communis, Bonn.); sandgrouse, “siyahsineh” (Pterocles arenarius, Pall.); bustard, “hubareh” (Otis tetrax, L. and O. McQueenii, Gray); woodcock, snipe, pigeon, many kinds of goose, duck, &c. The flamingo comes up from the south as far north as the neighbourhood of Teherān; the stork abounds. Poultry is good and plentiful. A large kind of fowl known as “Lari” (from the province Lar, in southern Persia) is said to be a descendant of fowls brought to Persia by the Portuguese in the 16th century.
The fish principally caught along the southern shore of the Caspian are the sturgeon, “sagmahi,” dogfish (Acipenser ruthenus and A. huso); sheat-fish or silure, “simm,” “summ” (Silurus glanis); salmon, “azad mahi” (Salmo salar); trout, “maseh” (Salmo trutta); carp, “kupur” (Cyprinus ballerus and C. carpio); bream, “subulu” (Abramis brama); pike-perch, “mahisafid” (Perca lucioperca or Lucioperca sandra). There is also a herring which frequents only the southern half of the Caspian, not passing over the shallow part of the sea which extends from Baku eastwards. As it was first observed near the mouth of the river Kur it has been named Clupea Kurensis. Fish are scarce in inner Persia; salmon trout and mud-trout are plentiful in some of the mountain streams. Many underground canals are frequented by carp and roach. The silure has also been observed in some streams which flow into the Urmia lake, and in Kurdistan.
Flora.—In the provinces of Gilan, Mazandaran and Astarabad on the Caspian, from the shore to an altitude of about 3000 ft. on the northern slopes of the great mountain range which separates those provinces from the highlands of Persia, the flora is similar to that of Grisebach’s “Mediterranean region.” At higher altitudes many forms of a more northern flora appear. As we approach inner Persia the flora rapidly makes place to “steppe vegetation” in the plains, while the mediterranean flora predominates in the hills. The steppe vegetation extends in the south to the outer range of the hills which separate inner Persia from the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. Beyond this outer range and along the shore of the sea the flora is that of the “Sahara region,” which extends eastwards to Sind.
Generally speaking, everywhere, excepting in the northern lowlands and in a few favoured spots in the hilly districts, the vegetation is scanty. In inner Persia the hills and plains are bare of trees, and steppe and desert predominate. The date-palm thrives well as far north as Tabbas in latitude 33° 36′ and at an altitude of 2000 ft. and in the south extensive date-groves, producing excellent fruit, exist at altitudes of 2000 to 5000 ft. The olive is cultivated at Rudbar south of Resht in Gilan, and a few isolated olive-trees have been observed in central and southern Persia.
Of fruits the variety is great, and nearly all the fruits of Europe are well represented. The common, yet excellent melons, watermelons, grapes, apricots, cherries, plums, apples, are within the reach of the poorest. Less common and picked fruits are expensive, particularly so when cost of transport has to be considered; for instance, a good orange costs 2d. or 3d. in Teherān, while in Mazandaran (only 100 m. distant), whence the oranges are brought, it costs 16d. Some fruits are famous and vie in excellence with any that European orchards produce; such are the peaches of Tabriz and Meshed, the sugar melons of Kashan and Isfahan, the apples of Demavend, pears of Natanz, figs of Kermānshāh, &c. The strawberry was brought to Persia about 1859, and is much cultivated in the gardens of Teherān and neighbourhood; the raspberry was introduced at about the same time, but is not much appreciated. Currants and gooseberries are now also grown. The common vegetables also are plentiful and cheap, but only a few, such as the broad-bean, egg-plant (Solanum melongena), onion, carrot, beetroot, black turnip, are appreciated by the natives, who generally do not take kindly to newly-introduced varieties. The potato, although successfully cultivated in Persia since about 1780, as not yet found favour, and the same may be said of the tomato, asparagus, celery and others. Flowers are abundant, but it is only since the beginning of Nasr ed din Shah’s reign (1848), when European gardeners were employed in Persia, that they were rationally cultivated. Nearly all the European garden flowers, even the rarer ones, can now be seen not only in the parks and gardens of the rich and well-to-do but in many unpretentious courtyards with only a few square yards of surface.
Population.—In 1881 the present writer estimated the population of Persia at 7,653,600, 1,963,800 urban, 3,780,000 rural and 1,909,800 wandering (“Bevölkerung der Erde,” p. 28, Ency. Brit. 9th ed. p. 628); and, allowing for an increase of about 1% per annum the population for 1910 may be estimated at 10 millions. No statistics whatever being kept, nothing precise is known of the movement of the population. During the ninth decade of the 19th century many Persian subjects emigrated, and many Persian villages were deserted and fell to ruins; since then a small immigration has set in and new villages have been founded. Persians say that the females exceed the males by 10 to 20%, but wherever the present writer has been able to obtain trustworthy information he found the excess to be less than 2%. Of the deaths in any place the only check obtainable is from the public body-washers, but many corpses are buried without the aid of the public body-washers; and the population of the place not being accurately known, the number of deaths, however correct, is useless for statistical purposes. Medical men have stated that the number of deaths, in times when there are no epidemics, amounts to 19 or 20 per thousand, and the number of births to 25 to 40 per thousand.
The prices of the staple articles of food and all necessaries of life have risen considerable since 1880, and, particularly in the large cities, are now very high. As salaries and wages have not increased at the same rate, many of the upper classes and officials are not so well off as formerly. By dismissing their servants in order to reduce expenditure, they have thrown great numbers of men out of employment, while many labourers and workmen are living very poorly and often suffer want. Tradesmen are less affected, because they can sell the articles which they manufacture at values which are more in proportion with the increased prices of food. In 1880 a labourer earning 25 krans, or £1 sterling a month, could afford to keep a family; by 1908, in krans, he earned double what he did in 1880, but his wage, expressed in sterling, was the same, and wherever the prices of food have risen more than his wages he could not afford to keep a family. In many districts and cities the number of births is therefore reduced, while at the same time the mortality, in consequence of bad and often insufficient food, is considerably increased.
The description of the Persian character by C. J. Wills, in his In the Land of the Lion and Sun (1883), is still worth quoting:—
“The character of the Persian is that of an easy-going man with a wish to make things pleasant generally. He is hospitable, obliging, and specially well disposed to the foreigner. His home virtues are many: he is very kind and indulgent to his children and, as a son, his respect for both parents is excessive, developed in a greater degree to his father, in whose presence he will rarely sit, and whom he is in the habit of addressing and speaking of as ‘master.’ The full stream of his love and reverence is reserved for his mother; he never leaves her to starve, and her wishes are laws to him. The mother is always the most important member of the household, and the grandmother is treated with veneration. The presence of the mother-in-law is coveted by their sons-in-law, who look on them as the guardians of the virtue of their wives. The paternal uncle is a much nearer tie than with us; while men look on their first cousins on the father’s side as their most natural wives.
“Black slaves and men-nurses or ‘lallahs’ are much respected; the ‘dayah’ or wet nurse is looked on as a second mother and usually provided for for life. Persians are very kind to their servants; a master will often be addressed by his servant as his father, and the servant will protect his master’s property as he would his own. A servant is invariably spoken to as ‘bacha’ (child). The servants expect that their master will never allow them to be wronged. The slaves in Persia have a good time; well fed, well clothed, treated as spoiled children, given the lightest work, and often given in marriage to a favourite son or taken as ‘segah’ or concubine by the master himself, slaves have the certainty of a well-cared-for old age. They are looked on as confidential servants, are entrusted with large sums of money, and the conduct of the most important affairs; and seldom abuse their trust. The greatest punishment to an untrustworthy slave is to give him his liberty and let him earn his living. They vary in colour and value: the ‘Habashi’ or Abyssinian is the most valued; the Suhali or Somali, next in blackness, is next in price; the Bombassi, or coal-black negro of the interior, being of much less price, and usually only used as a cook. The prices of slaves in Shiraz are, a good Habashi girl of twelve to fourteen £40, a good Somali
