"The climate is varied; as Cyrus said to Xenophon, 'The people perish with cold at one extremity, and are suffocated with heat at the other.' The population has been estimated from forty down to eight millions; and the latter is probably about correct. Roads are utterly neglected, and the people live in mean houses, generally of earth or mud, and the wealthy are not much better housed than the poorer class. The trade is of little importance. There are silk manufactures in nearly every province. Cotton and woollen fabrics, carpets, shawls, and felt goods are largely produced; and the trade is carried on between the chief towns of Persia with the interior of Asia by caravans. They exchange these goods for cloth, printed calico, tea, coffee, and fancy goods. Teheran in the north is the capital and the most important place; Ispahan is in the centre, Shiraz in the south, and Bushire is the principal seaport on the gulf.
"The government is an absolute monarchy of the most pronounced kind, though somewhat influenced by the priests, the dread of private vengeance, and insurrection. Taxation is heavy, and very burdensome to the subjects. Persia has a standing army of 200,000, but it is said to exist largely on paper. Incidentally you have learned considerable about the history of the country, and I shall not go over it. The present shah, as he is called, is Nâsr ed-dîn, born in 1831. He ought to be a progressive monarch, for he has visited England and France several times."
The professor retired, and the conference adjourned till afternoon.
When the professor concluded his lecture for the forenoon, the audience scattered, some of them feeling the need of more exercise; but Captain Ringgold went to the pilot-house. Like the cabin passengers, he immediately gave his attention to the mountains of the peninsula; for the African shore was little better than a blank, with nothing there worthy of notice. The pilot was an intelligent man, and he proceeded to question him in regard to the peaks in sight.
Just then there was nothing difficult in the navigation; and Twist, the quartermaster, was at the wheel, steering the course which had been given out, south south-west half west. The pilot knew the mountains as though they had been old friends of his for a lifetime. It did not take the commander long to learn his lesson; and he returned to the deck, where the passengers were gazing at the lofty points, thirty to forty miles distant, but still very distinctly seen in the clear air of the day. As soon as the captain appeared they gathered around him. He had ordered all the spy-glasses on board to be brought out, and those who had opera or field glasses had been to their staterooms for them.