'Lord Curzon's Notes on Persia' [‎648v] (1298/1386)

34
No. 55.
Consul-General Abbott to Earl Granville.—(Received December 4.)
My Lord. Tabreez, November 11, 1880
I HAVE the honour to transmit herewith to your Lordship my Report upon the
condition of the Nestorian Christians of Oroomiah, resulting from investigations held
by me during my recent visit to that district, and trust that it will meet with your
Lordship’s approval.
I have, &c,
(Signed) WILLIAM G. ABBOTT.
Inclosure in No. 55.
Report by Consul-General Abbott upon the Condition of the Nestorian Christians of
Oroomiah,
— IN order to form a true and impartial opinion of the position in which the
Nestorians are placed, it seemed indispensable to inquire carefully into the relations
existing between Christian tenants and their Mussulman landlords, as well as into the
mode employed for the collection of the taxes, and to draw a comparison between the
state of things under which the two races respectively live.
The plain of Oroomiah, in which the town of that name is situated, stretches
about 50 miles north and south. It is bordered on the east by a salt lake, 200 miles
in circumference, and is thickly dotted over with about 550 villages, of which it is com
puted that upwards of 100 are peopled by Nestorian Christians and the remainder by
Mussulmans. The majority of the latter are Shiahs, but there is also a considerable
sprinkling of villages on the plain inhabited by Kurds of the Sunni persuasion.
The three principal rivers which rise in the mountains water the plain and dis
charge themselves into the lake are—the Chehr Tchai, the Barandooz Tchai, and the
Nazloo Tchai. Fertile and well-wooded, the plain of Oroomiah must in spring well
deserve the appellation it has acquired. " the Paradise of Persia.”
The landlords, or masters of villages, are principally members of the Afshar tribe,
and belong to the Shiah persuasion.
The system of taxation in some villages is styled " Gural," the literal signification
of which is, " see and take.” The imposts under this head are:—house-tax for
Mussulmans, 5 krans = 4s. 2d.; the same for Christians, 8 krans = 6s. 8d.; tax on
live stock, paid in equal shares by Mussulmans and Christians, as follows: buffalo,
3 krans = 2s. 6d. ; cow, 1.10 krans = Is. 3d.; mare, 3 krans = 2s. Qd.; sheep,
10 shahis = od.; donkey, 1.10 krans — Is. 3d. In addition to this, all Christian
males, above the age of 15, pay a poll tax in lieu of military service, amounting to
5 krans = 1s. 2d. per annum.
With reference to the above, I am unable to see upon what principle of justice
Christians pay 3 krans more than Mussulmans for house tax.
With regard to the relations in which tenants and landlords stand respectively to
one another, it appears that the former, whether Mussulmans or Christians, are
subjected to the same system. The landlord is responsible to the Government for the
collection of the taxes, paid either in money or kind, for which every village is
assessed, the fixed amount claimed annually being entered in the Government Register.
The tenant, on the other hand, is responsible for the due discharge of the imposts to
the landlord, upon whose individual character it wholly depends whether a system
which in principle seems equitable enough, be converted into an instrument of
oppression.
In the immediate vicinity of the American College in which I resided there were
two villages one Mussulman, the other Christian—each containing about fifteen
houses, and both under the same landlord. I thought that the system employed in
this instance would be a fair criterion of that which prevailed throughout the
( roomiah Plain. In both these villages the landlord provided the seed for sowing the
crops, of which he took (r) shares and the tenants one. The annual produce was
about 50 kherwars of wheat. The Government imposts amounted to 5 krans per
kherwar: The total taxes would therefore be 25 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. per annum. Putting the