The division between Turks and Persians
Although in a general way there is no evidence of
extreme poverty, yet one would not call Persia a rich country; at the same time
there is a vast amount of actual wealth in gold, precious stones, lead, iron,
coal, bitumen, etc., hidden away, and the fertility of the soil is of a very
high order. Its area is about 636,000 square miles, and the population about
8,000,000. The old division between the Turanian (Medes) and the Aryan (Persians)
still exists, for the northern part is occupied by people of Turkish origin (Turkis),
while in the south the Persian element (Farsis) predominates. These two
sects, having only one common religion aloof from other Mussulmans, form the
Persian nation. The ruling power (Kadjar) is Turk, and until recently Turkish
was the Court language. The characteristics of the nation are pride in its
traditions, an invincible faith (as Shias) in the memory of Ali and the Imams,
with a corresponding hatred of the Sunis and their caliphs, Omer and Aboubakr.
The Turkis and Farsis are distributed between Iliats,
or nomads, and Tajicks, or settlers, etc. Of the nomads, the Bakhtyaris,
mustering about 375,000, and the Luris, 125,000, are the most important; these,
with the Arabs on the southern coast and the Beloochees of Kerman, Moghistan,
etc., number nearly one-third of the whole population.
The Iliats, or nomadic tribes, are agriculturists as
well as shepherds; they dwell in towns in winter, and return yearly to the same
mountains in summer to pasture their flocks. They are ruled directly by hereditary
chiefs, who are responsible for the conduct of the tribes and for the payment
of the Government tax. This tax apparently is 4 shahis a month for each sheep
or goat, or nearly 1s. 6d. a year. Benjamin estimates this tax at 40 per cent.
on the value of each animal per annum. The Tajicks, or settlers, therefore,
include everyone who is not a nomad, viz., the workman, the merchant, the
courtier, the schoolmaster, the functionary, the landholder, etc. They are
individually responsible to the laws of the land.
Colonel Augustus le Messurier, From London to Bokhara and a Ride Through
Persia. — London: Richard Bentley and Son, 1889. Pp. 249―250.
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