Persia Revisited | Page 6

of entry, for the North of Persia, of tea
from India and China. Till within a very short time most of the tea for
Persia, Trans-Caspia, and Russian Turkistan so far as Samarkand,
passed up from Bombay by the Persian Gulf ports. The late reduction
in Russian railway charges, and the low sea-freights from the East in
the oil-steamers returning to Batoum, have brought about this change.
Arrangements have been made for transit to Baku of Russian-owned
tea consigned to Persia on special terms of Customs drawback, and it is
now sold cheaper in Resht than in Baku, where it has a heavy duty
added to the price. The thin muslin-like manufactures of India, in
demand in Central Asia for wear in the hot dry summer, and which
found their way there from the Persian Gulf, are now following the
same route as the tea. Thus, steam and waterway are competing still
more with the camel, to make the longest way round the shortest one in
point of time, and the cheapest to the customers' homes.
As with tea, so Russian beet-sugar is cheaper at Enzelli-Resht than at
Baku, owing to the State bounty on export. The consumption of tea and
sugar, already large in Persia, is certain to increase in the North through
this development of Russian trade. French beet-sugar continues to
compete by way of Trebizond to Tabriz, but if the experiment now
being tried of manufacturing sugar in the vicinity of Tehran from beet
succeeds, the Persians will benefit further by competition.
The Russian trade in Persia is mostly in the hands of Armenians, some
of whom have amassed considerable wealth. It is only in the West that
the Jew is regarded as the sample of superior sharpness in the walks of
life that call for the exercise of the qualities most necessary in the
operation of getting the better of one's neighbour. In the East both the
Greek and the Armenian are ahead of him in this respect, and the
popular saying is, 'One Greek equals two Jews, and one Armenian
equals two Greeks.' But, to the credit of the Armenian traders, it should

be said that they are bold and enterprising in a newly-opened country,
as well as clever in an old one. It may be here mentioned that there is
no opening in Persia for the native Jew; he is there refused the facilities
which lead to wealth, and is strictly confined to the poorest occupations.
It is not unlikely that the severe treatment of the Jews in Persia has its
origin in the hatred inspired by the conduct of Saad-u-Dowleh, a Jewish
physician, who rose to the position of Supreme Vazir under the King
Arghoun Khan, in 1284. This Minister owed his advancement to his
pleasing manners and agreeable conversation, and he gained such an
ascendancy over his weak royal master as to be allowed to remove all
Mohammedans from places of trust and profit, and even to carry his
persecution to the length of commanding that no one professing that
faith should appear at Court. The Eastern Christians were then much
more prominent and numerous than they afterwards became, and
Saad-u-Dowleh sank his people's dislike of the Nazarene in his greater
hate of the Mohammedan, so that he employed the former to replace
the followers of the Arabian Prophet whom he dismissed from office
and banished from Court. The penalty of death was exacted for this
persecution, for Saad-u-Dowleh was murdered almost at the same
instant that his sovereign master expired.
The silk trade of Resht, which has suffered so much for many years
from the disease that attacked the silkworms in the Caspian provinces,
and spread to all the Persian silk districts, is now recovering. The
introduction of cellular seed has been attended with much success, and
there is a rapidly-increasing export of cocoons. The fresh start in this
old industry has given an impetus to mulberry-tree cultivation, and
waste land is in considerable demand for planting purposes.
An attempt is now being made to grow tea on the low hills near
Batoum. It is not yet known what may be the ultimate chances of
success, but already what is being done there is having the effect of
suggesting a similar experiment near Resht. The conditions of the soil
on many of the wooded hill-slopes in the Persian Caspian provinces,
where every gradation of climate and atmosphere can be met with,
appear to be well adapted for the tea-plant. The cart-road to Kasvin,
now being constructed by a Russian company, will pass through some

of these well-favoured parts, and this will help to draw attention to
natural resources which have hitherto been unnoticed.
As old Persian travellers, we were at once reminded of our return to the
land of complimentary address and extravagant