Page:Historyofpersiaf00watsrich.djvu/54

34 or, on the other hand, they could, by making means of communication between the interior and the seaports, pave the way for an indefinite increase of the exports from their country. But political economy is not as yet studied in Persia, and things go on year after year from bad to worse, the experience of the past leaving little room for hope of any amelioration in the future.

It may seem strange that there should be a very large consumption of wines and of spirits in a country the bulk of the people of which are Mahomedans. Such, however, is the case in Persia. Wines are valued for their intoxicating qualities and not at all for their flavour, and therefore the inferior wines of the country are more in demand than the costly produce of the grapes of Europe.

Persia, on the whole, is an unusually healthy country, but there are certain diseases which are more prevalent amongst Persians than amongst many other nations. When one bears in mind the great elevation of the tableland of Persia, the numerous chains of mountains with which the country is intersected, and the consequent variation of temperature to which the people, living as they do in a sunny land, are exposed, one learns without surprise that fevers prevail to a great extent amongst the Persians. For another reason this complaint prevails in the low-lying provinces of Persia, namely, because they are overrun with moisture and with vegetation, and the hot sun produces malaria. This could in a great measure be remedied by draining. Consumption is rare amongst Persians, although it is not altogether unknown. Dysentery is a common disease amongst them, and cholera and small-pox have at intervals made great ravages in that country. Diseases of the eye are also exceedingly