collecting the rent is of long standing; and, in fact, the cultivator does not now pay either a rent or tax agreeably to the actual produce of the lands, but according to the produce of the land at the establishment of this regulation.* The king does not always call upon those who cultivate his land to pay their rents yearly; it sometimes remains in the cultivator's hands until troops are quartered in their neighbourhood, and they have then to pay their rents at the requisition of the Quloontur. In the event of a general drought, some allowance is made to the husbandmen, but this depends chiefly on interest and favour.

The Urbabee land is held, in general, by some person of consequence, who cultivates it for himself. He furnishes seed, cattle to plough and draw water, and, after deducting the quantity advanced for seed, he assigns a fifth part of the produce to the cultivators, and a tenth part is the tax paid to government. If the land be Nuqd, a fifth part is the tax imposed by government. Should a labouring man cultivate his own land, he merely pays a tax to government, and appropriates the remainder to himself. The taxes on the Nuqd land are, I believe, paid always in kind; I have heard,

* I would rather suppose that this is only observed when the rents or taxes fall below the established quantity.

† Rub is the singular of Urbab, and signifies a lord, ruler, &c.

Mr. Patton, in his principles of Asiatic Monarchies, thinks, that because the taxes are paid in kind, they are a land rent, and that consequently land is the property of government. In Persia a proprietor of land pays a tenth of its produce; in England a tythe or tenth is given to the clergy, but no one will infer from thence, that the clergy are the proprietors of the soil. Besides,

it

may be very much doubted, if the king were to receive the whole of his revenue in money, instead of the greater part of it in kind, whether there would not be an alarming scarcity of specie in the course of one or two years. Books have been written to demonstrate, that wherever the land is the property of government, science, and all kind of improvement, must be at a stand. And this is said to account for the ignorance of the inhabitants of Asia. In Persia, in many parts. of Arabia, and some of the Turkish dependencies, the land is the actual property of the subject. It may be asked, are the Persians barbarous ? or have not they made a considerable progress in poetry; for instance, since the time of Noushirvan, when we know the same regulations to have been framed as subsist at present.

Sir William Jones's authority may be adduced in favour of the personality of land. See Preface to Al Sirajiyyah, p. 9.

however, from one person, that they were sometimes paid in specie. Since the king furnishes his troops with the various grains which are the produce of Persia, it is probably more advantageous for him to receive this part of his revenue in kind. Indeed, if we consider the little internal trade of Persia, and the very heavy drains which their foreign trade must make on the current specie of the country, it would appear almost impracticable for the king to realize his rents and taxes in any other manner.

As the greatest part of the land in Persia is watered by artificial means, its value, of course, depends upon the abundance or scarcity of this necessary article. Land that is well watered, sells for about twelve pounds a jureeb, and decreases in value to two. The cultivators of land who have more water than they require, dispose of it at great advantage; a good well, with plenty of cattle and men, will water about eight or ten jureebs of land in the twenty-four hours.

As far as I could ascertain, land situated on the banks of a river pays no greater tax to government than that which is watered by artificial means. If a person occupies a portion of waste land, which he brings into a state of cultivation, and which has no claimant, he enjoys an exemption from the taxes for a certain period, and is at full liberty to bequeath it to his children, or to dispose of it in any way he may think proper.

But land watered naturally, as in Dushistan, may be considered as the property of the king, which any one may cultivate on paying the fixed rent to government on horses, mules, &c. some parts of it are, however, personal property. The soldiers of the state who cultivate land, are exempted from all taxes, but in the event of their being called upon service, they are obliged to abandon their crops to the superintendance of their friends.

A jureeb of land is one hundred square cubits.

Although the Urbabee land in Persia is certainly personal property, yet, by the institutions of the empire, the proprietor is not permitted to let his land remain uncultivated; or, in other words, he is obliged to pay the same annual tax to government, as if his lands had been under a state of cultivation.* But as it is the mutual interest of the proprietor, and of government, that his lands should be as productive as possible, this is a case which must rarely

occur.

I believe this is a tolerable correct outline of the present financial institutions of Persia. That other regulations may have formerly existed is possible; but I must confess, that the result of my enquiries by no means authorize my forming such an opinion. It now remains for me to state the officers who are appointed by government to realize the rents upon the Shahee land, and the taxes upon the Urbabee.

The Moostoufee is the keeper of a register, containing a statistical account of the value, the produce, and the annual amount of the taxes of the lands committed to his management. It is his business also to keep a regular account of the receipts and disbursements made on account of government. The Quloontur is another officer of government, whose duty it is to furnish the troops with provisions, by giving an order on the Umberdar, or keeper of the royal granaries, which is countersigned by the Moostoufee. In the various parts of Persia, there are royal granaries, established for receiving the rents and taxes of government, which are entrused to the management of an Umbardar. The Hakim, who is invested with a general controul over these officers, enforces the claims of government, either by punishing or confining the cul

* The land in the vicinity of Bassora, a dependancy of the Turkish empire, is personal property, may be sold and bought at will.

+ See Appendix. No. I.

The prime minister is called Moostoufee ool Moolk.

tivators.* These officers have, of course, a number of subordinate ones under them, who are dispersed among the different villages within the circuit of their authority, and make reports of all occurrences to their immediate superiors.

There has been much dispute about the word Ry-yut, which some say means a subject, and others a cultivator. In Persia it signifies a subject; the word zara is the term applied to all cultivators, and means literally a tiller of land.

N

CHAPTER XXIII.

Of the Government.

THE HE government of Persia is well known to be despotic. The will of the king is under no controul from the laws of the empire, nor (as is said to be the case in Turkey) is his power under any restraint from the dominion of Mooslim priests. His rule is, therefore, as arbitrary as is possible for it to be; and perhaps Persia is the only country where the baneful effects of despotism are not checked by the influence of some other body in the state. But although the king governs with uncontrolled authority, he would incur much hazard were he to attempt imposing a trifling additional tax on his subjects, however salutary and beneficial it might be for the peace of his country. He may confiscate the property of his nobles, or depopulate whole districts in safety, and with applause; but the imposition of a tax would risk the existence of his government.* He has full power to assume the whole; but they deny him the liberty of taking a part of their property.

is a

One of the most serious evils of a despotic monarchy is the spirit of tyranny which pervades every class and description of people. Each individual, to the utmost extent of his power, despot; and the connivance of the king is purchased with exorbitant presents. This system of tyranny descends, in a successive series, from the king to the servants of his governors and officers of

* See Hume's Essays, vol. i. p. 16. I have given an instance of a merchant objecting to pay most trifling tax, although his property was secured from all risk by the imposition of this duty. + Hume's Essays, vol. i. p. 382.