siderable number of English-made fancy goods, furniture, stationery,
cigarettes, cigars and tobacco, &c. The humbler Sistanis purchase very
freely from the Indian British shops, but cannot afford to pay very high
prices; but the high officials pay cash and give a good price for all
they buy.

Speaking generally, the articles which are mostly wanted at present are
those mentioned in the official report. For these commodities there is a
steady demand in the markets of Sistan and Khorassan, but the supply, it
should be remembered, should be in proportion to the size of the
population. Sistan, Birjand, Meshed, are not London nor Paris nor Berlin.

The articles wanted are:--

Woollen stuffs, flannels, muslins, mulls, sheetings, chintzes,
cottons, &c.
Velvets, satins, silks, brocades.
Indigo of medium and good quality. (Oudh indigo is principally in
demand in Bushire.)
Iron, brass and copper sheets.
Sulphur matches.
Spices, including cinnamon, cardamums, cloves, pepper, turmeric, &c.
Rice (for Sistan).
Tea, black for Persia, and green for Afghanistan and Transcaspia.
Coffee (in berry).
Refined sugar, loaf.
Ginger preserve (in jars).
Sal-ammoniac.
Baizes (specially of high class), Khinkhabs and gold cloth.
Cotton turbans (lungis) of all qualities, including those with
pure gold fringes.
Leather goods.
Boots (Cawnpore and English).
Saddlery (Cawnpore, as the English is too expensive).
Glass-ware.
Enamel-ware.
Cutlery.
Ironmongery of every description. Cheap padlocks find a ready sale.
Watches (cheap).
Jewellery.
Kalai (for tinning copper vessels).

Fire-arms would command a very ready sale, but their importation is
strictly forbidden.

The articles of export from Khorassan and Sistan are wool, ghi, saffron,
dried fruit of various kinds, hides, jujubes, assafoetida,
pistachio-nuts, barak, kurak, gum, valuable carpets, and some turquoises.

In Sistan itself wheat and oats are plentiful, but their export to
foreign countries is not permitted. Opium finds its way out of the
country _via_ Bandar Abbas, and wool, ghi, feathers, carpets, and
assafoetida are conveyed principally to Kerman, Birjand, Meshed, Yezd,
the Gulf, and Quetta.

One of the principal problems of the new land route to India is not only
how to induce British traders to go to Persia, but how to solve the more
difficult point of p