‘The strategic importance of the Euphrates valley railway’ [‎43] (124/204)

( 43 )
later world, ever finding those Northern windes
crossing, and in some dismall successe prohibiting
their ambition that way." *
Before the famine of the last two years, Persia
was estimated to possess a population under five
millions. Of these a fifth were supposed to be the
inhabitants of large towns or cities, and nearly two-
fifths were Turks, Arabs, Kurds, and other members
of nomad tribes. The most populous city is Tabriz,
in the West; next in order are Tehran, Ispahan,
.and Mashhad; none are, according to the returns,
equal in numbers to Hull or even Portsmouth.
The extent of the whole country is about 700 miles
from north to south, with 900 from east to west,
and the small proportion of seven inhabitants to the
square mile has been considered a correct representa
tion. Some large tracts of Eastern Baluchistan,
found to have been possessed by Persia within the
last few years, may need inclusion in this rough
estimate; but on the other hand, the famine must
have sorely diminished the numbers of the sparse
population.
I have myself travelled over the country in nearly
every direction during the last eight or nine years.
In 1865 I landed at Enzeli in the south-west of the
Caspian, and proceeded, vid Resht and Kazvin, to
Tehran, the capital. Thence, after a delay of four
months on duty, I moved on to Ispahan, and turning
* His ' Pilgrimage,' p. 401.