be made not in Persia itself,
but in Transcaspia, Turkestan, Russia and Central Europe, where people
can pay well for a good article. Great credit should be given to the
Indian and Dehra Dun Tea Associations for despatching representatives to
study the requirements of the Persian market on the spot; but, as Captain
Webb-Ware suggests in the _Gazette of India_, the tea associations would
do well to turn their attention to the sale of Indian teas in Russia, and
to send some experimental consignments of their teas to Moscow by the
overland route. The same remarks might also apply to a great many other
English or Indian manufactured goods.

We complain a great deal that the Russian protective tariff is high, but
it is mild when compared with the murderous protectionism of the United
States or of our beloved friend Germany. And, after all, does this
protection keep out our goods from those countries? By no means. Russia's
industries are indeed fast developing, but they are far from sufficient
to supply her own wants. English, German, and American goods find their
way even to the most remote spots of Siberia. It is, then, a problem
worth considering whether "free trade Persia," with her English and
Indian imports amounting to one million four hundred thousand pounds
sterling (L1,400,000), is a customer so well worth cultivating as
protectionist Russia, which buys from us nearly twenty-two millions'
(L21,974,952) worth yearly.

In regard to the Quetta-Meshed route, it would strike a casual observer
that from our geographical situation we might, without much difficulty,
kill two birds with one stone by a happy combination--Persia being dealt
with _en passant_, as it were, while aiming for quicker, sounder, and
more extensive markets further north.

Persia is a good market for Indian indigo, which has, so far, commanded a
ready sale.

In Sistan itself--which, it cannot be too emphatically repeated, is
to-day only a comparatively poor and sparsely-populated district--the
articles which have, so far, found a quick retail sale, have been Indian
assorted spices, second-hand apparel, sugar, tea, boots, cheap cotton
cloths, matches, kerosene oil, thread, needles, cheap cutlery, scissors,
small looking glasses.

The Amir and the Sardars have at different times made purchases of boots,
shoes, saddlery, silk, woollen and cotton cloths, rugs, shawls, crockery,
and enamel ware, watches, chains, and knives, and have also bought a
con