The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1879-01-28
s-e-
THE fkEkSIANS,

Consul Churchill in his report on the
trade of Ghilan in 1877, gives an interesting
account of the condition of the people in
tbs part of Persia. He says it is mistake
TO suppose that the Persians are oppressed
by their rulers, and SO kept down in the
scale of civilization that they may well be
styled barbarians by the more favored ma
tons Of Europe. Almost every child in
Persia, male or female, is sent to school to
learn to read and write, or, at any rate, to
learn to repeat certain favorite passages of
the Koran; and the natural intelligence of
these children, he observes, is so vastly
superior to that of their brethren in Europe,
and the development of their intellectual
faculties at an early age is SO astonishing,
that small children will hold their own with
grown up persons, and talk on subjects that
would make our little folk of the same age
stare with wonder. But owing mainly to
every book in Persia being manuscript and
consequently inaccessible to the lower
classes because of its high price, SO that few
new books are ever read by the people, the
Persians as nation are still what they were
500 years ago. Though altogether clever
and industrious people, capable of initiating
almost everything that is produced m
Europe, they will talk to this day of the
four elements believed in the days of Plato
fire, water, air and earth-and will not be
convinced that all such notions have long
been superseded by scientific discoveries
They still cling to the notion that the sun
and all the stars revolve round the earth
which they believe to be motionless. But
the lower classes are far from being misera-
BILE. Tilling rich, fertile soil they get an
ample portion of the produce of the land
for their palms. If they engage to clear a
piece of jungle they divide the produce of
The land with the owner of the soil. If
mulberry trees are planted and silk pro-
duced the peasant rears the worms and
gets third of the produce for his trouble.
AS little supervision can be exercised over
the villager he naturally contrives to secure
for himself good portion of the crop.
He has advantages from his agricultural
vocation which are not inconsiderable. He
AN cut down wood in the jungle-that is,
5he neglected part of the land owners
4states-and sell it on his own account.
Ills COWS and sheep can browse freely in
those parts that are not under cultivation
He can make charcoal, produce vegetables
around his hut, rear and sell poultry and
dispose of the fruit which grows in abund-
ance on the estate without consulting the
owner of the land The taxes are not
farmed out in Persia as they are in the
Ottoman empire, and though the collectors
contrive, as matter of course, to extract
some ten or twenty per cent. more than
they are entitled to from the taxpayers,
they are satisfied if those limits are not ex-
ceeded; and there really is not system OF
oppression, though here and there cases
occur in which complaints are made to the
superior authorities. When the tax-gath-
erer grows rich he is pounced upon by the
Governor, who makes him digorge, and
who, in his turn, is called upon by the
Shah to pay large presents on his appoint
ment, or heavy fines for reported malver.
sations. .-English Paper.