is beautiful but
its flowery form conduces to endless misunderstandings--casual to a
degree in fulfilling work as he has stipulated to do it; such is the
Persian of to-day. Whether the vicissitudes of his country, the fearful
wars, the famines, the climate, the official oppression have made him so,
or whether he has always been so, is not easy to tell, but that is how he
is now.

Besides all this, each man is endowed with a maximum of ambition and
conceit, each individual fully believing himself the greatest man that
ever lived and absolute perfection. Moreover the influence of Mullahs is
used to oppose reform and improvement, so that altogether the economic
development of production, distribution and circulation of capital is
bound to be hampered to no mean extent. On examining things carefully it
seems almost astonishing that the trade of Persia should be as well
developed as it is.

Another difficulty in the way is the currency, which offers some
interesting lessons, and I am indebted to the author of a paper read
before the Statistical Society for the following details.

Gold is not produced in Persia. Bar gold is imported in very small
quantities only. Gold coin is a mere commodity--is quite scarce, and is
mostly used for presents and hoarding. It is minted principally from
Russian Imperials and Turkish pounds which drift into Persia in small
quantities in the course of business. Goldsmiths, too, in their work,
make use of foreign coins, although some gold and silver bullion is
imported for manufacturing purposes.

Silver, too, is not obtainable in Persia except in very small quantities,
and the imported silver comes from Great Britain, _via_ the Gulf or _via_
Hamburg and Russia. In the year 1901 the Persian Government, in
connection with the Russian Loan, imported some three million tomans'
worth of silver to be minted, and the Imperial Bank of Persia another
million tomans; while some 500,000 tomans more were brought into the
country by other importers. But under normal circumstances the annual
output hardly ever exceeds three to four million tomans. In 1900 it was
something between 2,000,000 and 2,500,000 tomans.

The Mint--like all other institutions of Persia--is in a tumbling-down
condition, with an ancient plant (1877) so obsolete and worn as to be
almost useless. Partly owing to the insufficient production of coin,
partly because of the export in great quantities of Persian silver coin
into Transcasp