'Persia' [‎45r] (89/90)

substitution of Trebizond for Turkey, the Trebi-
zond figures being only about one-third of the above
total, and no mention being made of the trade
vid Bagdad. Apart from this error, 1 cannot but
think that both tables are very much exaggerated.
Let me apply a double test. Goods imported or
exported vid the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. must almost of
necessity pass through the ports of Bushire,
Lingah, or Bender Abbas, the remaining Persian
ports along the coast—Mohammerah, Dilam,
High, Khamer, Minau, and Jask, doing, as their ;
customs returns show, a relatively very small
amount of business (and that for the most part
with goods already in transit to or from the three
larger ports), which is incapable of appreciably i
affecting the totals. In 1888 the total of exports |
from Bushire, Lingah, and Bender Abbas com- j
bined was £1,347,058 ; the total of imports into .
the three same ports, £1,645,385, figures which,
even if they were not exaggerated, as I shall show
them in my next letter to be, are absolutely irre
concilable with those given above. In other words, ^
the total volume of the Gulf trade was £2,992,438, i
instead of £5,471,432, as given in the “ States- 1
man’s Year Book,” it being impossible that the t
trade of the six minor ports should amount to ^
more than an infinitesimal fraction of the differ- f
ence. The second test that I would apply is that c
of the import trade into Persia from Turkey, re- i
turned above as £1,841,678. Almost the sole e
avenues through which this trade passes on any r
appreciable scale are from Trebizond, vid Tabriz, i
and from Bagdad, vid Khanakui andKermanshah. s
The latest figures of the Trebizond transit trade t
that I have with me—viz,, for 1887—give the total ]
value of goods passing through that port en route {
for Tabriz as £610,490. At Bagdad I have ascer- i
tained that the approximate annual value of goods i
imported from or vid that place into Persia, is ]
£270,000. Adding these figures, we get a total of *
about £900,000 for the whole import trade from
Turkey—again a serious divergence from the re- ^
turns before quoted. My reduced estimates in
these cases, if applied in a similar or even in- 1
ferior ratio elsewhere, incline me to believe that
the total commerce of Persia at the present time s
does not exceed at the most from £7,000,000 to
£7,500,000—an estimate which was given to me v
by two independent authorities—of which the im
ports constitute about two-thirds and the exports ^
the remainder. <