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government, and the center of power of every kind, more than counterbalance the commercial interests which connect the rest of Persia with India and Great Britain. The acquisition of the freedom of Ashurada port destroys the value of the mountain frontier abutting on Kara Kum Desert, which might otherwise have been fortified and held against all the armies in the world. Russia, from that port, dominates the whole interior. The court at Teheran already bows to the will of the Czar.

The magnificent provinces of Ghilan and Mazanderan are not only the richest part of Persia, but one of the most fertile belts of country in the world. The northern slopes of the Elburz Mountains, which traverse them, are covered with forests of teak, oak, walnut, and box. On their southern plateau are mines of coal and iron. These are the scene of Russian mercantile enterprise, and may in the future be merged in the Muscovite Empire. The oasis of Merv, at the northeast corner of Persia, which has been conquered by the Russians, is a fertile tract, ninety miles in circumference, which bears three crops a year, and once supported a million inhabitants. This acquisition brings Russia into contact with the great province of Khorassan, and, though the Merv country is not likely to be occupied, and affords no means of commercial communication, the Russians have won the undying gratitude of the inhabitants of this section of Persia by their subjugation of the Akkal Tekke Turkomans.

The tent-dwelling Turkomans of the Kara Kum are of the same race as the civilized Kajar tribe, from which the Persian royal family sprang. Fearless, capable of extraordinary exertions and endurance, mounted on the best horses in the world, and cruel beyond conception, the horrors which they have committed are well calculated to cause the Persians to tremble at the mention of their name. For three or four centuries they have been the scourge of the country. The Belochee marauders who infest the southern parts of Persia, and travel several hundreds of miles into the Salt Desert on their plundering expeditions, carried by their wonderfully fleet and enduring camels, are simple robbers. They drive off the sheep and camels which they find in their way, and lurk in ambush behind the sand-hills of the desert to fall upon passing caravans. They treat their victims rudely and plunder them thoroughly, but seldom commit murder. The Turkomans, on the other hand, would lay whole villages waste, carry off into slavery those whom they selected, and slay all the rest. When hotly pressed in pursuit they were accustomed to cut off the hands and feet of their captives and leave them by the wayside. The more aristocratic captives were preferable for sale or ransom. Women slaves were valued the most. Their inroads were as swift as they were daring, and, unless there were military to oppose them, always successful. The prisoners were lashed on the backs of

horses and given no rest until they reached the Turkoman tents. There they were heavily ironed with a ring around their neck and a chain fastening it to a tent-peg, and with rings around each leg, joined by a short chain. Their market was in Khiva and Bokhara. Until the slave-trade was suppressed in those places by the Russians there were as many as 100,000 slaves kept in the khanates and among the Turkomans themselves. The trade is still carried on secretly in Bokhara to a small extent, and the Turkomans still capture slaves in some parts of Khorassan to work them in their own country or hold them for ransom. The Russians are said to have liberated 40,000 slaves in Khiva alone. Great numbers were killed when returning to Persia, but in all parts of Khorassan there are emancipated captives, of all ranks, who are full of gratitude toward their deliverers. The place where the Turkomans formerly captured the most valuable slaves was on the caravan-road from Teheran to Meshed, in the neighborhood of Miandasht, which is far in the interior and not far from the middle of the route. The Shah pays a reward of five tomans (about ten dollars) for every Turkoman killed while raiding in his dominions, upon the delivery of the scalps.

The nominal strength of the Persian army is 100,000 men; but it is doubtful whether more than one fifth of that number are ever in camp at one time, or would be likely to obey a call to arms. The army is not recruited from the Persians, who are not warlike nor habituated to the use of arms, and who, by influence and bribery, manage to evade the conscription. It is mainly drawn now, and probably was in ancient times, when the Persian conquests extended from Egypt to China, from the Toorks of Azerbaijan, the Kurdish mountaineers of Kurdistan, and from the Loor, Bukhtirgar, and Eliant tribes inhabiting the mountain chains south and east of the Zagros range. The standing army, with the exception of the Shah's body-guard, is entirely composed of these tribemen, who still keep up much of the tribal organization, and whose chiefs and khans are appointed to the commissions in the regiments composed of their hereditary followers. The organization of the army is according to the European model, but it is only so in name. It was introduced by British officers, who have twice been employed by the Shah to organize and instruct his army. Austrian officers have recently been called to Persia as instructors, but only a few remained there. There are 77 battalions of infantry, with an average strength of 800 men each, and 79 regiments of cavalry, consisting of eight troops of 50 sabers each. The officers are without military education, and the men are devoid of drill or discipline. Bribery and favoritism govern the promotions. There is often, however, a strong attachment between officers and men, and an esprit de corps partaking of the clan feeling. Many of the officers are devoted to their profession, and

need only instruction to make good soldiers of their men. The army is raised by conscription, which falls very unequally on different districts and tribes. The War-Office does not even pretend to levy the troops in proportion to the population of the different districts. Many towns escape the conscription entirely. The nomad tribes, which are without court influence, and are too poor to bribe the officials, are required to furnish far more than their rightful share. The men are supposed to be discharged after a short term of service, and replaced by fresh annual contingents; but oftentimes the discharge can only be obtained by bribery, and many are kept in the service all their lives. Their physique is excellent, their nature patient and cheerful, and their disposition toward their commanders obedient and tractable. Their powers of marching are celebrated, but the system which enables them to get over the ground so rapidly is fatal to good discipline. Most of the soldiers possess donkeys, which they ride on the march, carrying also the arms of their comrades who go on foot. They do not form, or make any attempt to march in order, but each one takes his own pace; still, by means of their beasts they accomplish a longer march in a day than any infantry can make on foot only. They wear a tunic of the European pattern, and a black, lamb's-wool busby, with a brass ornament representing the emblems of the lion and the sun. The effect of the uniform is entirely destroyed, however, by the long frocks which they generally wear under the tunic, and the cloths wound around their heads in the summer-time, on the top of which they set their caps. They are partly armed with breech-loading rifles, which have been lately furnished; but the majority carry muzzle-loading, smooth-bore muskets, of French make. The cavalry are equally wanting in order and discipline, but adapted, if well led, for good service of the irregular kind. They are mounted on strong, stanch horses of all sizes. They are uniformed in long, dark-blue frocks, sheep-skin busbys, and brown-leather boots, reaching halfway to the knee. They carry a rifle and a saber, which is very much curved and has no guard for the hand. The cartridges for their carbines are carried in their brown-leather belts. To the bridle is fastened a camel's-hair rope, with an iron peg at the end, for picketing. The artillery is the best disciplined branch of the army. Their armament, however, is defective, consisting mainly of old smooth-bore nine-pound guns, though a considerable number of Uchatius rifled cannon have recently been imported. Not over 20,000 troops are kept under arms, garrisoning the principal towns and guarding frontier posts. The remainder are with their flocks and herds, or engaging in their agricultural or commercial occupations. The pay is nominal and never reaches them. Their rations are liberal, according to the regulations, but usually there are no rations given out at all. The soldiers are consequently

driven, when not assigned to duty, to ply the not very respectable trades of drug-selling and usury, and even the sentries on guard have little tables covered with wares which they sell to passers-by.

PERU (REPÚBLICA DEL PERÚ). For details concerning territorial division, area, population, etc., reference may be made to the "Annual Cyclopædia" for 1873, 1875, 1878, and to the article BOLIVIA in the volume for 1879.

The home of the ancient Incas, and afterward a Spanish viceroyalty, it was not until 1824 that Peru became an independent republic, although her declaration of independence dates from July 28, 1821. By the terms of the latest Constitution, proclaimed on August 31, 1867, and modeled after that of the United States, the legislative power resides in a Senate, composed of two members from each province; and a House of Representatives, whose members, at the rate of one for every 20,000 inhabitants, are nominated by the electoral colleges of provinces and parishes. The parochial electoral colleges send deputies to the provincial colleges, and these in turn send representatives to Congress. In the session of 1876 there were 44 Senators, and the members of the House of Representatives numbered 110. The executive power is vested in a President, assisted by a Vice-President, both elected by the people for a term of four years. The last constitutional President was General Ignacio Prado, who, despairing of a successful resistance against the victorious Chilian invader, left his country in December, 1879. From that time until the fall of Lima, in January, 1881, the government was in the hands of the Dictator, Don Nicolás de Piérola. After the decisive battles of Chorrillos and Miraflores, and the occupation of the capital by the Chilian troops, Piérola fled to the mountains with the débris of his army, and for several months maintained a warlike attitude toward the conquerors.

In March a number of leading men of Lima met in council, and elected, as Provisional President, Señor Don F. García Calderon, with a Cabinet composed of the following ministers: Foreign Affairs, Señor Arenas; Interior, Señor Torrico; Finance, Señor Elguera; Justice, Señor Paz Soldan; War, Señor Carillo. This election was afterward ratified by a Congress convened under the direction of the Chilian commander-in-chief, at Chorrillos (July 10th). But the end of the year found Peru in the deplorable situation of a country without a government of its own, without any regular armed force by land or by sea, and deprived of the chief sources of national income:-President Calderon deported to Chili; the remnants of the army scattered far and wide in the train of reckless guerrilla chiefs; the navy annihilated; the nitrate and guano deposits in the possession of and controlled by the invader; and the proceeds of the customs applied to support the Chilian army of occupation. The peace

strength of the Peruvian land forces seldom exceeded 6,000, including some 1,200 gendarmes, and about an equal number of vigilantes, constituting the organized police force. After the declaration of war against Chili, the military strength was raised to 40,000 (May, 1879), and the number of men under arms in the summer of 1880 was reported at 70,000, a figure apparently very much exaggerated. Of the navy, but a few years ago accounted one of the finest in America, destruction in engagements with, and capture by, the Chilian fleet, had, by the end of 1880, left nothing to Peru.

The national revenue for 1873-74 was 62,753,903 soles; * that for 1875-76 was 66,601,664; and the expenditure for the same periods amounted respectively to 65,500,836 and 65,063,122 soles. There was no direct taxation in Peru, and the revenue was for the most part derived from the sale of nitrate and guano, and from the customs, the yield of which latter for the years 1873-'77 having been 8,400,000 soles, 7,097,000 soles, 17,082,000 soles, 5,541,664 soles, and 4,005,689 soles, respectively. As for the sale of guano,t before the war, the average annual exportation of that commodity for the decennial period 1868-'77 has been set down at 400,000 tons, valued at $23,000,000. Of the disposal of guano under Chilian administration mention will be made hereafter; and, for information on the same subject, reference may be made to the "Annual Cyclopædia" for 1880 (page 624).

As stated in our volume for 1880, the national debt of the republic in July, 1879, amounted to upward of 246,000,000 soles, exclusive of a floating debt variously estimated at from 20,000,000 to 25,000,000. Of the entire indebtment, 20,000,000 soles represents the home debt, and 226,340,516 the foreign debt, made up of loans contracted in England in 1869, 1870, and 1872. No payment of interest on these loans has been made since the commencement of the war, and the British bondholders were for some time in a state verging on despair. The bonds at the end of 1881 were quoted very low, scarcely higher than in the darkest days of the war. In March, 1881, the 6 per cents railway loan of 1870 were worth 26, and the 5 per cents of 1872 sold at 21; in December of the same year the quotations of the latter were given at 193-201. That they have any value at all is owing to Chilian generosity, the Chilian Government having consented to the shipment, for the benefit of the bondholders, of guano from the deposits secured by conquest, on condition of the payment of a royalty of £1 108. per ton to the Chilian Treasury. The sales are in the hands of Messrs. Gibbs & Co., of London, who, from April to December, 1881, had sold 16,442 tons for the gross sum of £120,000,

The sol is equivalent to about ninety cents of United States money.

For nitrate exports, see page 787.

of which £17,829 had been distributed among the bondholders.*

The Chilian authorities having, shortly after the capture of Lima, established a tariff of customs duties on imports and exports, Mr. Christiancy, late United States Minister to Peru, presuming that said tariff would probably be adhered to during the continuance of the Chilian military occupation, and "thinking it might be well that our merchants and ship-owners should have information upon the subject, inasmuch as it might affect their action in questions bearing upon commercial ventures with Peru,” forwarded to the Department of State at Washington a copy of the decrees concerning the new tariff, and an extract of which is here transcribed: Patricio Lynch, Rear-Admiral and General-in-Chief of the Army of Chili.

Whereas, I have on this date decreed the following: Considering that it is just that the Government of Chili should obtain from the territory occupied by their military forces all the benefit compatible with the interest of its commerce and industry-I decree :

DUTIES UPON IMPORTS.

ARTICLE I. All merchandise imported into the port of Callao shall pay an ad valorem duty of 25 per cent, with the exception of the following, which shall pay : ART. II. A duty of 15 per cent: Tar and pitch for use of ships; animals alive or slaughtered; quicksilver in jars; charcoal and mineral coal; oakum for calking; woolen felt (barred) for use of shipping; pig-iron in bars, unwrought, square, round, or in plates; iron axles or champs (or hoops); fresh prints; printing-presses and utensils; machinery for agriculture and mining; flower-seeds and garden-seeds; printer's ink.

ART. III. A duty of 10 per cent:

Sub. 1. Chilian products, and merchandise free, or on which duty has been paid in Chili. Sub. 2. Peruvian products coming from ports occupied by Chilian arms.

ART. IV. A specific duty:

per dozen; brandies, 42 cents per litre; coffee, 15 cents per kilogramme; beer, $1.25 per dozen bottles; beer, 12 cents per litre; cigars, $3 per kilogramme; alcohol (pure), 50 cents per litre; gin, $3 per dozen bottles; gin, 32 cents per litre; sweet liquors, $4.50 fard, 5 cents per kilogramme; snuff, $3 per kilodozen bottles; sweet liquors, 48 cents per litre; per gramme; burning rum (or burning alcohol), $4 per dozen bottles; burning rum (or burning alcohol), 42 cents per litre; Havana tobacco, $2 per kilogramme; other tobacco, $1 per kilogramme; tea, 75 cents per kilogramme; white wine, 32 cents per litre; white wine, $3 per dozen bottles; red wine, $2.25 per dozen bottles; red wine, 25 cents per litre; Paraguay tea, 6 cents per kilogramme.

Sub. 1. Brandies, bottles of the common size, $4

Sub. 2. Products of Chili and articles on which, being subject to specific duties, duty has been already paid in Chili, shall pay 25 per cent of those established

in last above.

Sub. 1. Peruvian products coming from ports occupied by the Chilian arms shall pay the same duties as Chilian products subject to specific duties.

ART. V. The appraisement shall be according to the Peruvian tariff of 1880.

ART. VI. The collector of customs will prescribe the special rules and modes of proceeding in the case of documents presented for dispatch.

ART. VII. All other import duties in force at the

* See the articles CHILI and PERU in the " Annual Cyclopædia" for 1850, and CHILI in the present volume.

time of occupation shall be collected in the form which the chief collector of customs shall determine.

ART. VIII. All merchandise disembarked should be immediately dispatched for consumption. If from exceptional circumstances, duly certified to by the chief collector of customs, it shall not be possible to dispatch from the port the merchandise disembarked, these may be deposited in the stores of the customhouse for fifteen days. The compensation for storage shall be equivalent to 2 per cent of the value of the merchandise. If, at the expiration of fifteen days, the merchandise shall not have been dispatched, the collector of customs shall proceed to sell them at auction to the highest bidder, and, after deduction of costs and duties, the remainder shall be held in deposit to the credit of whom it may concern.

PAYMENT OF DUTIES.

ART. XI. The duties may be paid, at the option of the payer, (1) in the silver peso (dollar) of any nationality, provided always that, by weight and standard, it shall not be worth less than that of Chili; (2) in gold coin, computing the peso at 38 pence each (3) in treasury bills of Chili at such rates of discount as shall be fixed at these headquarters within the first two weeks of each month.

ART. XII. This decree shall take effect from and after the 8th of June, proximo.

The decrees of the 22d January and the 15th February last are repealed.

Given in the Government House, in Lima, this 24th PATRICK LYNCH,

of May, 1881.

MANUEL DIAZ B., Secretary-General.

to the collector of customs at Callao, after having certified to the quantity of merchandise shipped. The other copy shall be returned to the party interested after the remarks written upon the one reserved have been copied thereon.

ART. VIII. The collector of customs at Callao, as soon as he shall receive the copy sent him by the military commander, or the commander of the blockading squadron, shall proceed to collect the duties on the goods, in case they have not yet been paid.

ART. IX. Any exports made in violation of the foregoing articles will subject the party making them to the penalties prescribed for the prevention and repression of smuggling.

1881.

Done at Lima, in the Government Hall, May 25, P. LYNCH. MANUEL DIAZ B., Secretary-General.

Of the condition of Peruvian commerce at the present time nothing more can be said than that it has reached the lowest ebb. Even the trade with Great Britain has been sensibly decreasing since 1878. The subjoined tabular

statement will serve to show the value of the Peruvian exports to and imports from Great Britain during the decennial period embraced between 1871 and 1880:

1871

Patrick Lynch, Rear- Admiral and General-in-Chief 1872. of the Army of Chili.

Whereas, I have this day decreed as follows:

FOR EXPORTATION.

ART. V. Merchants wishing to export sugar, or any article subject to export duties, from any port lying north or south of Callao, may do so by complying with the following provisions:

On ar

1. They shall present an application to the collector of customs at Callao, mentioning the name of the port (or ports) in which the goods are to be discharged, together with the quantity to be exported. ranging for the payment of duties on the merchandise to be exported, the parties interested shall furnish a certificate of deposit, or a promissory note, indorsed to the satisfaction of the collector, as security for the amount of such duties.

2. The payment of said amount shall be required, if, during the period which shall be fixed by the collector, and which shall not exceed one month, it shall not be satisfactorily shown that the exportation has been impossible, owing to some unforeseen occurrence, or to vis major.

3. Notwithstanding the provisions contained in the foregoing paragraph, the collector may require the payment of the export duties to be made in cash whenever he shall deem it proper so to do.

ART. VI. The duties having been paid, or a sufficient guarantee furnished for their payment, the collector shall issue an order in duplicate, in which shall be stated the name of the vessel which is to receive the goods, the exact quantity of the latter, the name of the port (or ports) in which they are to be discharged, and such other particulars as may tend to prevent abuses. Both copies shall bear the approval and seal of the military commander of Callao.

ART. VII. The order referred to in the foregoing article shall be delivered to the party interested, and shall be considered a sufficient permit by the commanding officer of the blockading force, or by the military officer in command of the port from which the exportation takes place. The military commander, or, in his absence, the commander of the blockading force, shall retain one of the copies of the order, for the purpose of transmission, as speedily as possible,

1873

1874

1875

1876

1877

1878

1879

1850

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The exports of sugar in an unrefined state, small previous to 1869, have attained large proportions in recent years. From 2,560.560 soles in 1874, they rose in 1876 to the value of 4,963,995 soles, and in 1880 to 5,640,310 soles.

The following table shows the annual exports of nitrate of soda from Iquique (the principal port of the nitrate region), from 1830 to 1879, the value, per cwt., at Liverpool, in each year since 1847, inclusive, and the number of vessels annually engaged in the nitrate carrying trade:

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Thus the total quantity shipped in the thirtythree years from 1847 to 1879, inclusive, was 3,723,182 tons of 2,240 pounds each, at an average value of £14 68. 8d. per ton, and an aggregate value of $264,345,900 approximately. The rate of duty imposed on nitrate shipped from the port of Iquique from 1830 to 1873 was four cents per quintal; from the latter year to the end of 1880 it gradually rose to $1.50 per quintal; and at the end of 1881 it was $1.60 per metric quintal (of 100 kilogrammes). The total length of the twenty-two railway lines open to traffic at the end of 1877 was 2,030 miles. Eleven of these lines belonged to the Government, eight were the property of private companies or individuals, and the three remaining lines were in part owned by the Government, and in part private property. As recorded in the article PERU, in our volume for 1880, the Chilians, after their victory at Arica, set about preparing an expedition against Lima, for the avowed purpose of putting an end to the prolonged contest, "not by such VOL. XXI.-47 A

expedients as the conferences of Arica, which could give no positive result, but by striking the final blow in the very capital of the enemy." As soon as the army was raised to a strength sufficient, 26,000 Chilians, commanded by General Baquedano, began a campaign which culminated in the complete overthrow of the Peruvian army, and the occupation of the Peruvian capital by the victorious Chilian troops. Landing at Curuyaco early in January, 1881, the expedition at once proceeded to camp in front of the Peruvian army, which occupied the heights extending from Bella Vista to Monterico, under cover of parapets and ditches. At five o'clock, on the morning of the 13th, the first division, under Colonel Lynch, opened fire, and, the second soon following, the attack became general. A fierce fight of four hours ended in a victory for the Chilians. Yet another battle had to be fought, for some 8,000 Peruvians had concentrated in Chorrillos, whence they were "dislodged street by street." The town was completely destroyed. An armistice was now granted, at the request of the foreign ministers resident at Lima, but the Peruvians, again in position under cover of the fortifications at Miraflores, provoked another attack, and were routed and pursued to the suburbs of the capital. According to the report of the Chilian commander-in-chief, 25,000 Peruvians were beaten by half that number of Chilians at Chorrillos, and the number of the former at the commencement of the fight at Miraflores was 15,000. The Peruvian losses in the first of these two engagements "exceeded 7,000, with 1,500 prisoners, over 60 cannon and mitrailleuses, and a quantity of arms"; while the Chilian losses in both battles were estimated at but 600 killed and 2,000 wounded. Lima surrendered unconditionally, and was occupied by 4,000 Chilians on the 17th. Callao surrendered on the same day, and here virtually comes to an end the record of the military operations of this protracted struggle. Meantime Piérola, the Peruvian Dictator, had fled to Chocos, from which place he issued a pompous proclamation.

Piérola was credited with the design to protract the struggle by carrying the scene of hostilities to the mountainous regions, distant from the coast, and of difficult access for the Chilians. But these had no desire for the indefinite prosecution of guerrilla warfare, unpromising of glory or benefit. The main professed object for which they had pursued the conflict was not the conquest of Peru, but her destruction as a naval power, and her incapacitation for future intervention in Chilian affairs. That object attained, their further desires were limited to two requirements: the establishment of a permanent peace, and the payment to them of a war indemnity. The only present means of securing the latter being the occupation of the conquered territory, that it was resolved to continue indefinitely. With a view to obtain the first, a provisional government

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