'Report on the North-Eastern Frontier of Persia and the Tekeh Turkomans' [‎112r] (15/50)

15
6/. 13$., a mund of 13 lbs. The cocoons are worth from 1/. 10$. to 11. 12$. a shah
mund of 13 lbs. The silk that is broken in reeling is sold for 8$. a mund of 13 lbs.
This seemed wonderfully cheap to me, but this waste silk can only be procured in
small quantities. The actual case of the cocoon, after all the silk has been reeled off,
is also exported.
While in the Turshiz district I made a good deal of inquiry into the way that
soldiers are recruited for the Persian army. One regiment is furnished by Turshiz
and one by Turbat Hidari, the neighbouring district. In each of these districts
I stayed in the house of a naib or lieutenant of one of these regiments. The con
scription falls very unequally upon the population of Persia. "Many districts do
not furnish any soldiers at all, the population being considered too unwarlike to
furnish efficient soldiers. For instance, the towns of Kashan, Isfahan, and Yazd
furnish no soldiers whatever, though a sum of money is paid by those towns for the
privilege of being exempted. The Turk tribes o*f Azarbijan furnish a very large
proportion of the soldiers of the Persian army, the Iliats, or nomad tribes, also,
whether of Persian or Turk descent, have to supply an undue proportion of soldiers,
as these nomad tribes make far more efficient soldiers than the inhabitants of cities.
There is no rule by which the men are conscripted. The Shah orders a certain dis
trict to furnish a regiment of one thousand men, and appoints a Colonel known as
Sartip, or a Lieutenant-Colonel known as Sarhang, to command the regiment. The
regiment consist of 10 companies, each company consisting of a Sultan or Captain,
and 2 Naibs or Lieutenants, and one hundred men. Besides this each regiment has
two or three Yavirs or Majors. The battalions are never complete, 800 men being
the utmost number that are ever produced, and I believe often even 600 men are the
total of effectives, though pay is always drawn for 1,000 men. The Colonel appointed
by the Shah visits the district apportioned to him for the raising of his regiment,
and roughly apportions to each village the quota of recruits to be furnished. A
very few come forward and enlist voluntarily, but the great majority have to be
pressed into the service. The Colonel visits the village with a party of soldiers,
and takes the men he requires, willing or unwilling. Those who wish to escape pay
him a handsome sum to escape the conscription. Those who cannot pay have to
serve for life. In some cases the villagers collect a sum of money, and pay the men
who go a certain sum. Also some money is occasionally paid by the Colonel as
enlistment money. The sum paid varies. One individual soldier I spoke to told
me the sum he had received was five tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. , something under two pounds. He
said, “I was not willing to enlist, but as I had to go, whether I took the money or
“ not, I took it. 5 ’ For this sum he had become a soldier for life, or until extreme old
age prevented his serving. No pay is paid to them while in their villages, but they
are furnished with 325 lbs. of wdieat each annually. This is less than a pound of
wheat a day. When serving in districts far from their own homes they are supposed
to receive enough wheat to make 3| lbs. of bread daily, and seven tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. , or about
2,1. 12$., in money yearly, but neither the money nor the wheat reach the soldier except
in a very diminished quantity. My informant told me had been aw r ay garrisoning
Sarakbs and Daragez against the Turkomans, and in two years, a portion of which •
had been spent On active service, he had received 10 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. , or about Zl. 15$. Also
when on the march from one place to another no food is supplied, and the soldiers are
obliged to plunder to feed themselves, no rations being supplied until their destination
is reached. No uniform is supplied, the men furnishing their owm, except once in
two years a thin blue cotton coat, worth about 2$., is furnished to them. My in
formant w'as dressed in a very neat uniform, but he had provided it himself. He "told
me that he was a small landowmer, and that during the tw r o years he had been away
from his home that he had spent 30 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. , or about 11/. 2$., out of his own pocket to
supply himself with food and necessaries. In Sultanabad I met the first Russian trader
whom I came across. He was a Russian Mohomadan from the Government of Tiflis,
and purchasing corn in large quantities.
The next day I made a short march of five miles to Furk, the last village in the
Turshiz district. On the 11th November I marched 23 miles, to Kushdureh. The
road leads over a barren stony plain for 14 miles, a few poor villages being seen. At
the fourteenth mile the flourishing village of Azghan is passed. Azghan is situated
about 1^ miles to the left of the road. At 18 miles from Furk I crossed a stream with
a rapid current running in a very deep bed. This is the first stream of any size which
I have crossed since leaving Isfahan. The stream is about 50 feet wide, running with
a strong current over a pebbly bottom, and from the depth to which it had eroded its
bed and the width of the ravine, it must in spring time bring down a large volume of
water. The course, as far as it can be seen, is nearly due north and south. It is said