Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1870-02-03
PERSIA.
Present Conditions Of the Country
Scenes and Incidents.

scenes anu 1ncioentss
correspondent of the London Examiner
writes from Teherap, Persia, under date of
October last, as follows:
My first impression on landing in Persia
was anything but pleasant The seaport
OF EugIlee, on the Caspian, put me in mind
Of marrow creek on the Soonderbunds of
Bengal, and the ride through dense Jungle
to Resi-, the capital of the Gillian provinces.
was q caution-mud and mire, holes and
ston the whole distance, riding on ponies
so small that once or twice / was sorely
tempted to get off and carry the poor beast,
instead of infiicting it with my weight.
Teheran is pot SO striking as the native
town of Agra, and without any of its en-
bellishments-all mud, and few dabs of
paint at the Kings palace. Cholera is rife
all over Persia. The country is impoverish-
sd by disagreement, whose sole aim Is TO
extort moneJ from all and every one by
fair or by foul means, to crafty its own
poor ideas of show.
The failure of the silk cultivation of the
Gillian and Mazanderen provinces, owing to
disease among the worms, has put I'm
ishing touch to the misery and poverty
which is palpable throughout the three
hundred miles l have travelled. / am with
in the mark when l say that five villages
ont of SIX were deserted and IN ruins. In
spite of all this the King insists on getting
mis- revenues; AID to avoid mutilation, bas-
tinado and other torrents, close on one
half of the population is in what they cali
Sanctuary, that is, have taken refuge in
mosques or other holy places, where the
Kings soldiers are not allowed by the 10
ran law to enter. However, / am not 60
ing to infiict ON you treatise on Persian
politics: but you will at once comprehend
the dernoralized state OF society when
tell you that the King has no hesitation in
hosting up the feet of his Prime Minister,
his Chancellor of the Exchequer, his Gov
ernor-General, and bastinadoing them till
their toe-nails drop off. His wives are
similarly treated; and, as he is despotic, he
considers this mild punishment, and some
times orders the throat of the offender to
be cut tr
cat a village, or rather collection of mud
huts, / passed through, an order had ar
rived that the head man was to receive this
little piece of attention; and ss in the lock-
up there was prisoner who had one hand
cut off a few days previously for stealing,
he was told to do tine deed. on the promise
that he should be released. The poor fell
low found it difficult job with his one
hand, and knife hardly larger than those
we put into our pockets; but ut last he pro-
nounced it done. To his dismay he was
quietly put into prison again, where he will
remain till released probably by death.
''The capabilities of the country are
something wonderful, but the Persians
won't allow European enterprise to step in
for the next fifty years or more. There is
No lott
governed by a despotic King and fanatical
priesthood, the people are in hopeless
state. They won't allow any Europeans to
hold land, or TO enter into commercial pur-
suits; they place restrictions and prohibit
tory transit duties on merchandise to such
an extent that the only respectable house
in Persia, the Raillys. are going to leave it
with over GOO, 600 outstanding.
Gas my return will not only be through
Persia. Georgia. and the Caucasus, but by
way OF the Black Sea, it is quite impossible
to calculate the length of time the journey
viii take; suffice it to say that have ride
OF twelve hundred miles before me, by way
of the Kasbin, Tabriz. Erzrum, and on to
Trebizond, where / take steamer for Con-
stantlnople. The distance is not SO great
as the difficulties to be.encountered OH the
road, crossing as it does, high chains of
snow-covered mountains, tor winter has
there already set in, and my feeling will be
that of disappointment, as no business can
be got out of the journey
THE carrier with the English
mail ought to have been here on the 10th,
and yesterday we heard of his having been
killed and mail-bags destroyed by the wild
Khoor tribes On the frontier. Owing to the
breaking ont of these wild tribes, it is i'm
possible to obtain guide across the des-
ert, so must remain some days longer, till
the country is more settled; but shall not
be able to rest long, for now that see pos
itively that nothing is to be done here am
all anxiety to be on the road and getting ov-
er some of the twelve hundred miles ride
that il, before me.
Il was disguised this morning when rid
ing outside the city wall to stumble ON q
dozen poles with dozen reeking human
heads that had evidently been taken off an
hour or so before by the order Of the Shah,
who is generally guided by some freak OF
Ubiu,