'Lord Curzon's Notes on Persia: About 1889-1890' [‎685r] (1390/1486)

May 10 , 1889 ]
JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS.
567
haviour, trade on a large scale between
the Kanin and the central plateau of Persia
will be impossible. The conciliation will
depend chiefly on the European merchants
and their agents on the spot. Coercion, when
necessary, can of course only be applied by
the Persian Government. There will certainly
be considerable difficulties for some time to
come, but there is no reason to doubt that the
Lur chiefs will, in their own interest, eventually
secure the safe passage of caravans through
their country. With a combination of tact on
the part of the merchants, and firmness on the
part of the Persian governors, this happy
result need not be slow of attainment.
Altogether, the prospects are hopeful. The
opening of the Karun to our steamers shows
that the feeling of suspicion with which our
motives and actions were so long regarded, is
at last yielding to one of confidence in our
good faith. This change of sentiment is, 1
have no doubt, largely due to the experience
which the Persians of all classes have had of
us, and we of them, during the last twenty-five
years of mutual friendship and good offices in
the telegraph department. During this long
experience the Shah and his ministers have
gradually seen for themselves that, although
occasions were seldom wanting, our officers
and employes religiously refrained from the
slightest interference in local affairs, and
habitually took every opportunity of rendering
to the Persian authorities such services as lay
in their power.
As another sign of the spirit of progress, I
may mention the recent establishment, with
the Shah’s sanction, of branches of two
English banks in Teheran and other Persian
towns, a measure which will greatly facilitate
commercial operations, and lead to the gradual
introduction of European capital into the
country.
Unless I am greatly misinformed, a serious
attempt on a large scale, by means of a con
cession to a great European capitalist, is
about to be made towards the development of
the mineral resources of the kingdom.
These and other progressive measures which
might be mentioned arc not the outcome of a
sudden caprice on the part of the Shah, but
are due to a deliberate conviction, very slowly
arrived at, that they are safe and well calcu
lated to benefit his country. They are thus
all the more likely to prove of permanent
value.
Of railways I have purposely said nothing,
but have confined my remarks to the more
immediate advantages of the new trade route,
towards the establishment of which the open
ing up of the Kanin is the first great step.
On the manner in which that measure is
utilised and supplemented will chiefly depend
the chances not only of railways, but of all
other means of developing the resources and
increasing the prosperity of what ought to be
a great, as it certainly is a most interesting,
and to us a very friendly, country.
DISCUSSION.
Professor Vambkry said he had listened with
great attention to this paper, which was full of highly
interesting details, and was perhaps the best paper
hitherto published on the subject. The wealth of
the Kanin district was known in ancient times, and
in the days of Harun-el-Rashid and the Moham
medan caliphate, the province of Khuzistan produced
an annual revenue to the State of 22 , 000,000 francs.
Ahwaz was then very famous for its carpets, especially
a particularly fine description made of silk; and
Hussein, an Arab poet, in praising the object of his
affections, said her cheeks were as fine and smooth
as an Ahwaz carpet. Besides these carpets, the
province was rich in many other products, which
were exported to the Far East as well as to the
West, and he could therefore thoroughly agree with
what had been said as to the probable future develop
ment of the country. He could not, however, agree
in everything which had been advanced. He was
not sanguine enough to think that his English friends
would profit very much by this new route if what was
reported about Russia were correct. He had been
much delighted when he first heard of the English
concession, but those which were said to have been
given to Russia would entirely neutralise the ad
vantage. The Czar had the oyster and England the
shell, and though the shell might be better than
nothing, and if well worked might produce some
thing, the gain would be but small. Trade in Persia
was closely connected with pilgrimages ; they had a
proverb—“A little pilgrimage and a little business.”
One object of these pilgrimages was Meshed, to the
tomb of a very famous saint, and another was
to Kerbela, near Bagdad ; and the two titles
which were very highly cherished in Persia were
Meshdi and Kerbelai, signifying those who had
made these pilgrimages. He had travelled through
the whole country' as a Mohammedan beggar
—a Sunnite amongst the Sheites. The Sunnites
amongst the Turks were accounted a lazy lot, and
he had to suffer on their behalf, in fact, he had to
endure more hardships in Persia than in Central
Asia. These two routes of pilgrimage involved the
main trade of the country'. From the south there
was a large quantity of travellers to Ispahan and
Teheran, and on to Meshed, where they stayed