illage
income, for the general assessment was made before the existing
improvement in the circumstances of the cultivators had taken place more
or less all over the country. There was then little demand for products
which are now exported and paid for in gold, thus giving a high price in
the silver currency of the country. After the provincial taxation, there
are local charges, which may possibly add a further 2 or 3 per cent, to
the total amount. Formerly insecurity and want of confidence confined
cultivation and stock-breeding to the barest limits, but it is evident
now that the inhabitants can look to enjoy the fruits of their labour,
and they are extending their fields of exertion. On the whole, it may be
said that the peasantry and labouring classes in Persia are fairly well
off, and I think their condition can bear a favourable comparison with
that of the same classes in other countries.

In the course of my journeying in Persia, I generally found excellent
quarters in the village houses. The rather mean outer appearance of the
dwellings conveys the idea of poor accommodation within, but the reality
is a pleasing disclosure of plain but well-carpeted rooms, with dados of
matting or felt for the backs of the sitters by the wall. I always
looked out for village lodgings when travelling off the main roads, and
in wintry weather they were very comfortable from their open well-built
clay fireplaces giving out heat without the nuisance of smoke. On these
occasions I had ample opportunity to observe the every-day life of the
people, and I was struck with much which showed that their manners and
ways had been favourably touched and turned by a softening civilization
of old date. I also there saw clear evidence of the origin of the
Eastern shoe question, a matter which has often given rise to warm
discussion in Persia and India; I allude to the removal of shoes on
entering the inner rooms of a house. In India it is taken to imply
inferiority, and since the establishment of British supremacy the custom
has never been complied with by a European except in cases of personal
employment in a native State. I remember an instance in point when a
sergeant piper of a Highland regiment took service with one of the
Punjab Sikh chiefs, to instruct a bagpipe band which the Rajah had
formed in admiration of Scottish Highland music. In the contract paper
which set forth in detail the duties, pay, and allowances of the
instructor, the ser