'Lord Curzon's Notes on Persia: About 1889-1890' [‎684r] (1388/1486)

May 10 , 1889 .]
JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS.
Sf>5
the Kanin may be expected to be very con
siderable. In this region the principal cities
and trade centres are Teheran, Ispahan,
Kashan, Koom, Hamadan, Sultanabad,
Dowletabad, Burujird, Shushter, Dizful, and
Mohammerah.
Teheran, the capital, is a city of at least
120,000 inhabitants, where much of the wealth
of the country is accumulated, and where a
good deal of it is spent on European manu
factures of all kinds. The bazaars, which are
spacious and well built, are always crowded,
and show every sign of great commercial
activity. English cotton goods, which for
merly monopolised the market, still pre
dominate, although those of Russian origin
have of late years made great way. Woollen
cloth comes chiefly from Austria, while Russia
has practically the whole trade in sugar,
candles, pottery, brasswork, and hardware
generally. The gradual supercession of
English by Russian manufactures, which has
been going on for some years in Teheran, is
due to the great impetus given to the foreign
trade of Russia by the extension of her rail
ways, and still more, so far as Persia is con -
cerned, by the enormous development of steam
navigation on the Caspian, consequent on the
application of petroleum residuum as fuel for
steamers. Coal was so dear that it was only
by dint of heavy State subsidies that steam
navigation could be maintained on the Caspian
at all. Now, the astatki, or petroleum fuel,
costs a mere trifle, and stokers are no longer
required. Russian imports reach the leheran
bazaars entirely by way of the Caspian, chiefly
through the port of Euzelli, 230 miles distant,
and partly through Meshed-i-Sar, to which
the distance is only 120 miles. English im
ports come either from Trebizond or Bushire,
distant 1,000 miles and 800 miles respectively.
By the Karun route the land carriage to
Teheran would be reduced to 485 miles, a
difference which would probably suffice to
turn the scale in favour of English goods, or
at least enable them to continue successfully
the present competition.
Ispahan, formerly the capital of Persia, and
now containing about 80,000 inhabitants, is of
great commercial importance. It is situated
in the very heart of the country in a rich,
fertile, well-watered district. Its distance
from Bushire is 520 miles, while from Shushter
it is only 260 . Kashan, with about 20,000
inhabitants, where there is a considerable
industry in silk, is 640 miles from Bushire,
and 380 from Shushter. Koom, a holy city
and place of pilgrimage, with cobalt mines in
the neighbourhood, and a considerable manu
facture of pottery, is 700 miles from Bushire,
and 400 from Shushter. Hamadan, situated at
the base of El wand, in an unusually well-watered
district, in which fruit grows in great profusion,
is 320 miles from the Turkish river-port Bagh
dad, and 260 from Shushter. Sultanabad, the
centre of the carpet-weaving industry, is 700
miles from Bushire, and 320 from Shushter.
Burujird, a thriving town of about 20,000
inhabitants, is the seat of government of a
large and fertile district. It occupies a pecu
liarly central position on the plateau of Persia,
with comparatively good and easy roads to
Hamadan, distant 90 miles, Kermanshah 130
miles, Ispahan and leheran each 230 miles.
It is thus peculiarly well adapted to become an
important trade centre. Its distance from
Baghdad (which it must be remembered is not
a Persian but a Turkish port), is 350 miles, and
from Shushter 250 . In regard to this very
central position for commercial purposes there
is therefore a difference of 100 miles in favour
of the Karun route as compared with the Tigris
one, besides the further great advantage that
on the Karun route foreign custom-houses do
not intervene as they do on the 1 igris, one
between Burujird and the sea.
We may therefore sum up the commercial
advantages of the Karun navigation as follows :
—A great part of Central Persia, including
some of its richest provinces, may by its means
be brought some 200 or 300 miles nearer to
ship transport than they are at present. Means
will thus be afforded of exporting many pro
ducts of the country which, owing to the pro
hibitive cost of land transport, it is now im
possible to export, and which therefore there
is now no sufficient incentive to develop. A
corresponding impetus will similarly be given
to the import trade of those provinces. The
growing commercial monopoly of Russia in the
north, due to her command of all the outlets in
that direction, with the single exception of the
inconvenient and tedious route by Erzeroum
and Trebizond, will be checked, and a fair field
maintained for other competitors. A gradual
revival of the former prosperity of Khuzistan,
through the opening up of the Karun country,
is perhaps not to be despaired of.
As to the means by which these advantages
are to be attained, I shall first consider them
from a Persian and then from an English or
European point of view. As regards Persia,
the first step has already been taken in the
opening up of the lower Karun to foreign