coast, Zanzibar, &c.; while the smaller vessels, called bagarah,
and mostly under 20 tons, are employed in the coasting trade and
the pearl-fisheries on the Arabian coast. It is estimated that the
four principal ports and the many smaller ones (as Mashur, Hindian,
Zaidin, Bander, Dilam, Rig, Kongan, Taheri, Kishm, Hormuz, &c.)
possess at least 100 baglahs and several hundred bagarahs, besides a
large number of small boats. The following figures from the
commercial statistics published by the Persian Customs Department
show the total shipping at the four principal Persian Gulf ports,
Bushire, Bander Lingah, Bander Abbasi and Muhamrah during
the years 1904–1907.
| 1904–1905. | 1905–1906. | 1906–1907. | |
| Tons. | Tons. | Tons. | |
| British | 671,386 | 827,539 | 826,594 |
| Persian | 36,797 | 25,069 | 6,425 |
| Russian | 24,121 | 29,182 | 40,616 |
| Arabian | 22,487 | 16,749 | 7,932 |
| Turkish | 3,176 | 3,877 | 5,005 |
| French | 2,901 | 570 | — |
| German | — | — | 52,935 |
| Total | 760,868 | 902,986 | 939,507 |
The British shipping amounted to 89·2% of the total shipping at the four ports during the years 1904–1907. There was no German shipping in the gulf before 1906, but in the first year of its appearance (1906–1907), its tonnage at the gulf ports was almost as much as that of all other nations with the exception of Great Britain.
The shipping of 1906–1907 was distributed among the four ports as follows:—
| Bushire | 354,798 tons. |
| Bander Lingah | 155,720 tons. |
| Bander Abbasi | 245,746 tons. |
| Muhamrah | 183,243 tons. |
Bander Lingah being the port where most of the pearls obtained on the Arabian coast of the gulf are brought to and exported from, has more native shipping (all sailing vessels) than the other ports.
All the shipping on the Caspian is under the Russian flag[1] and no returns of the arrivals and departures of vessels at the Persian ports were published before 1906. According to the statistics of the customs department the shipping of the Persian ports amounted in 1906–1907 to 650,727 tons. The shipping at the principal Persian ports on the Caspian in the year 1906–1907 was: Astara 137,935 tons; Enzeli 292,132 tons; Meshed i Sar 90,799 tons; Bander-i-Gez 56,135 tons. Two or three flat-bottomed sailing vessels navigate the lake of Urmia in north-western Persia, carrying merchandise, principally agricultural produce, from the western and south-western shores to the eastern for the supply of Tabriz. The navigation is a state monopoly, leased out for £250 per annum.
Coinage, Weights and Measures.—The monetary unit is the kran, a silver coin, formerly weighing 28 nakhods (88 grains), then reduced to 26 nakhods (77 grains), and now weighing only 24 nakhods (71 grains) or somewhat less. Before the new coinage came into use (1877) the proportion of pure silver was from 92 to 95%; subsequently the proportion was for some time 90%; now it is about 8912%. In consequence of this depreciation of the coinage and the fall in the price of silver, partly also in consequence of exchange transactions by banks, the value of the kran has since 1895 rarely been more than 4·80d, or half what it was in 1874, and fell to less than 4d. in 1905. In 1874 the kran was worth a franc; in June 1908 the exchange for a £1 bill on London was 50 krans which gives the value of 1 kran as 445d. Taking this value of the kran, the values of the various nickel and silver coins in circulation work out as:—
| Nickel Coins. | |
| Shahi = 2 pul | 0·24d. |
| Two shahis = 4 pul | 0·48d. |
| Silver Coins. | |
| Five shahis = 14 kran | 1·20d. |
| Ten shahis = 12 kran | 2·40d |
| One kran = 20 shahis = 40 pul | 4·80d. |
| Two krans | 9·60d. |
In 1899 from 80 to 83 copper shahis (weighing about 45 ℔) were being given for one silver kran. This was owing to the depreciation of the copper coinage from 1896 onwards, consequent upon there being an excess of coinage due to the excessive quantities formerly put in circulation from the mint. Accordingly the government in 1900 replaced the copper by a nickel coinage (face value of nickel coin in circulation end of 1907, 4,000,000 krans). Accounts are kept in dinars, formerly a gold piece, now an imaginary coin 11000 of a kran. Ten thousand dinars are equal to one toman (a word meaning ten thousand), or 10 krans silver, and 50 dinars are one shahi.
Gold coins are: 14, 12, 1, 2, 5, and 10 toman pieces, but they are not in circulation as current money because of their ever-varying value in silver krans, which depends upon the exchange on London.
The unit of weight is the miskal (71 grains), subdivided into 24 nakhods (2·96 grains), a nakhod being further subdivided into 4 gandum (·74 grains). Larger weights, again, are the sir (16 miskals) and the abbasi, wakkeh, or kervankeh (5 sir). Most articles are bought and sold by a weight called batman, or man, of which there are several kinds, the principal being:-
| Man-i-Tabriz = 8 abbasis | = | 640 miskals | = | 6·49 ℔ |
| Man-i-Noh abbasi = 9 abbasis | = | 720 miskals | = | 7·30 ℔ |
| Man-i-Kohneh (the old man) | = | 1000 miskals | = | 10·14 ℔ |
| Man-i Shah = 2 Tabriz mans | = | 1280 miskals | = | 12·98 ℔ |
| Man-i-Rey = 4 Tabriz mans | = | 2560 miskals | = | 25·96 ℔ |
| Man-i-Bander abbasi | = | 840 miskals | = | 8·52 ℔ |
| Man-i-Hashemi = 16 mans of | 720 miskals | = | 116·80 ℔ |
Corn, straw, coal, &c., are sold by kharvar = 100 Tabriz mans = 649 ℔.
Thee unit of measure is the zar or gez, of which, as in the case of the man, there are several variants. 40·95 in. is the most common length for the zar, but in Azerbaijan the length is 44·09 in. Long distances are calculated in farsakhs, a farsakh being equal to 6000 zar. Probably the zar in this measure = 40·95 in., which makes the farsakh 3·87 m., but the other length of the zar is sometimes used, when the farsakh becomes 4·17 m. Areas are measured in jeribs of from 1000 to 1066 square zar of 40·95 in., the surface unit thus being from 1294 to 1379 sq. yds.
Constitution and Government.—Up to the year 1906 the government of Persia was an absolute monarchy, and resembled in its principal features that of the Ottoman Empire, with the exception, however, that the monarch was not the religious head of the community. The powers of the Shah (Shahanshah,[2] or “king of kings”) over his subjects and their property were absolute, but only in so far as they were not opposed to the shar’, or “divine law,” which consists of the doctrines of the Mahommedan religion, as laid down in the Koran, the oral commentaries and sayings of the Prophet, and the interpretations by his successors and the high priesthood. In 1905, however, the people began to demand judicial reforms, and in 1906 cried out for representative institutions and a constitution. By a rescript dated the 5th of August Muzaffar-ud-Dīn Shah gave his assent to the formation of a national council (Majlis i shora i milli), to be composed of the representatives of the various classes: princes, clergy, members of the Kajar family and tribe—chiefs and nobles, landowners, agriculturists, merchants and tradesmen. By an ordinance of the 10th of September the number of members was fixed at 162 (60 for Teherān, 102 for the provinces) to be raised to 200 if necessary, and elections were held soon after. Electors must be males and Persian subjects of not less than 25 years Of age and of good repute. Landowners must possess land of at least 1000 tomans (£200) in value, merchants and tradesmen must have a fixed and well-known place of business or shop with an annual value of not less than the average values in the localities where they are established. Soldiers and persons convicted of any criminal offence are not entitled to vote. The qualifications for membership are knowledge of the Persian language and ability to read and write it and good repute in the constituency. No person can be elected who is an alien, is under the age of 30 years or over the age of 70 years, is in the employ of the government, is in the active service of the army or navy, has been convicted of any criminal offence, or is a bankrupt.
On the 7th of October the national council, or as many members of it as could be got together, was welcomed by the shah and elected a president. This was considered as the inauguration and formal opening of parliament. An ordinance signed
- ↑ By article v. of the Treaty of Gulistan of 1813, confirmed by article viii. of the Treaty of Turkmanchai of 1828, it was declared that Russia alone should have the right of maintaining vessels of war on the Caspian, and that no other Power should fly the military flag on that sea; and by a decision of the council of the Russian Empire, published on the 24th of November 1869, the establishment of companies for the navigation of the Caspian, except by Russian subjects, and the purchase of shares of such companies by foreigners were prohibited. (State Papers, vol. lxiii. 925.)
- ↑ We see this title in its old Persian form, Khshayathiya Khshayathiy, in the cuneiform inscriptions; as Βασιλέως Βασιλεῶν on the coins of the Arsacides, and as the Pahlavi Malkan Malka on the coins and in the inscriptions of the Sassanians. With the Mahommedan conquest of Persia and the fall of the Sassanians the title was abolished; it was in use for a short time during the 10th century, having been granted to Shah Ismail Samani by the Caliph Motadid A.D. 900; it appeared again on coins of Nadir Shah, 1736–1747, and was assumed by the present dynasty, the Kajars, in 1799.
