'Report on the British Indian Commercial Mission to South-Eastern Persia during 1904-1905. By A H Gleadowe-Newcomen.' [‎9v] (23/176)

6 HEPORT ON THE BRITISH INDIAN COMMERCIAL
The agriculturist, like the trader, finds the work of his head and hands
heavily handicapped, owing to the absence of roads, and to the lack of method
and justice shown by his rulers.
The Persian differs widely from the native of India, who, whatever he may
spend on occasions of rejoicing or of mourning, is, whether Hindu, Sikh or Musal-
man, a man of few wants, and frugal to a degree. r lhe Persian is not a man of
frugal mind. He resembles the European, and especially the Englishman, in his
preference for putting the money he earns on his back or into his stomach, and
rejoices in good food and good clothes. The humblest Persian dresses and eats
well. Eew men in rags are to be seen, except amongst the jooorest peasants and
the swollen ranks of the professional beggars. ^ His demands are many and
various, and he has a great craving for the luxurious and show r y in every depart
ment of life. He himself dresses in sober colours, and his woman folk in the
streets resemble sheeted ghosts. For the peculiar in-door dresses of his women
and hangings for the adornment of his house, he rejoices, however, in gay prints
and cretonnes, bright-hued silks and rich satins. Like the native of India, he
revels in looking glasses, lamps, coloured glass pendants, bright china, clocks,
watches, knives and European “ gimcracks.” I he floors of bis house are, as a
rule, carpeted with exquisite gems from the loom, which give evidence of con
siderable taste. He is a great drinker of tea, which he makes and drinks
in a manner peculiar to himself and the Russians, and his consumption of
sugar, w ? hich he procures mostly from France, Russia, Austria and Egypt, is
enormous.
The constantly increasing consumption of opium, which is smoked as well
as eaten, induces a considerable increase in the demand for tea, even while it
impoverishes the Persian and Persia, by rendering the opium-eater and smoker
very rapidly unfit for work. It is an undoubted fact that opium has a far
worse, and more rapid, effect on the Persian than on the Osmanli, the Indian or
the Chinaman. This is doubtless due, mainly, to the very impure nature of the
drug, which is home manufactured and much adulterated. The opium habit is
generally contracted in the season of fasting, the Bamzan, when it is taken as a
medicine. Once begun, the Persian can never give it up. He goes from bad
to worse, and, as custom in Persia has always permitted the wine cup, despite
the canons of the Koran, whilst there are many popular vices as w r ell, the
opium-eater becomes a wreck in two or three years, and is generally dead in
five or six.
As I have said above, Southern Persia is a poor country, and the people, as
a rule, are without initiative. At the same time, under a better system of pro
vincial government, it wmuld not he impossible for them to improve their con
dition. However, notwithstanding the proverty of the land and the people, and
in spite of the faulty methods of revenue administration, improvement in trade
with India is not only possible, but is not too difficult of achievement, provided
the Persian is given a fair chance in his own country.
Money is now squandered on all sorts of silver horse trappings and similar
finery, which would be spent in other and more profitable ways, were there
openings for spending it. Let us make these openings by placing the products
of India at the doors of the people. They do not know what India can produce,
and for the most part their knowledge of India is confined to the one word,
Bombay, and tbeir knowledge of even this city and its marts is extremely
limited. It is not unreasonable to hope that the advent of the Commercial
Mission may help materially to change this state of affairs.
Trade—
Mr. Maclean has dealt, mainly from the British standpoint, with the trade
of every part of Persia but the South-East. This it is my duty to attend to,
more especially from the point of view of the Indian Commercial man. It
would merely be a truism to say that the trade of South-Eastern Persia is not
m a satisfactory condition as considered from the standpoint of the British
Indian trader and manufacturer. For this there are many reasons. The chief