than otherwise, which extravagance he can only
satisfy under a mask of endless lies and subterfuges. No honest ways of
employing his wealth in a business-like and safe manner are open to the
rich Persian under the present public maladministration, nor have the
foreign speculations in the country offered sufficient examples of
success to induce natives to embark upon them again. Far from it; these
enterprises have even made Persians more sceptical and close than before,
and have certainly not shown foreign ways of transacting business at the
best.

That is why, no other way being open to him, the Persian who does wish to
get rid of his wealth, prefers to squander his money, both capital and
income (the latter if he possesses land), in luxurious jewellery and
carpets, and in unhealthy bribery and corruption, or in satisfying
caprices which his voluptuous nature may suggest. The result? The Persian
is driven to live mostly for his vanity and frivolity--two
unbusiness-like qualities not tending to the promotion of commercial
enterprise on a large scale, although it is true that in a small way his
failings give rise and life to certain industries. For instance, even in
remote, poor and small centres where food is scarce and the buildings
humble, one invariably finds a goldsmith, filigree-workers and embroidery
makers, whereas the necessaries of life may be more difficult to obtain.

Of course Persia contains a comparatively small number of Persians of a
more adventurous nature, men who have travelled abroad and have been
bitten with the Western desire for speculation to increase their money
with speed, if not always with safety; but even these men have mostly
retired within their shells since the colossal _fiascos_ of the
speculations started in Persia by foreign "company promoters." A
considerable number of Persians, seduced by glowing prospectuses and
misplaced faith in everything foreign, were dreadfully taken in by the
novel experiments--everything novel attracts the Persian
considerably--and readily unearthed solid gold and silver bars, that had
lain for centuries in subterranean hiding-places, and now came out to be
converted into shares in the various concerns, hardly worth the paper on
which they were printed, but promising--according to the prospectus--to
bring the happy possessors fabulous incomes.

We have seen how the Sugar Refinery, the Glass Factory, the "Gas"
Company--a more appropriate name could not have b