'RELIGION. Nearly all the inhabitants are Mo hammedans, besides whom there are about 9,1)00 rsis. 35,000 Jews. 45,000 Armenians, and 05,1100 Nestorians. Wide tolerance is exercised inward the followers of other religions in places nn here Europeans reside, but elsewhere they are sometimes oppressed by the lower classes of the population. It is an interesting fact that most of the Mohammedans in Persia belong to the Shiite or sect of Islam.
Ent•cArfox. All wealthy families employ pri vate tutors for their children, and many colleges supported at public expense instruct students in religion, Persian and Arabic literature, and some seientifie branches. There are also many schools for eh ild rembut most of the population are taught to read only the Koran. Western languages and science have been introduced to some extent into Persia by the polytechnic school which was opened in Teheran in 1849. it has several Euro pean professors. There are military colleges at Teheran and Tabriz, and a. number of schools with improved methods of teaching supported by sub scription and small tuition fees are in several of the larger towns.
ETnNotoor. The Persians, ancient and mod ern, are the most numerous and the most impor tant historically of the Iranian group of Aryan peoples. The great plateau of Iran has been cupied since the earliest historical times by peo ples of Aryan stock, Merles, Proto-Medes, and an cient. Persians, who played a great role in the development of Western Asia, produced monu ments of lasting grandeur, imposed a court and a language opon nations from the Mediterranean to the Bay of Bengal, and through their literature profoundly influetwed both the Orient and the Oc cident, They are also said to have had more or less to I lo with the rise of strict monotheism among the Hebrews after the captivity. The culture of the modern Persians covers a wide range, from the civilization or semi-civilization of the cities and towns to the nomadism and pastoralism of a very primitive sort prevalent in the mountainous districts. The civilization of the Persians is often spoken of as only "skin-deep," the barharian and the savage sleeping but lightly in the garb of culture. Physically, the mass of the Persians
belong to the Aryan type, although much inter mixture (as the modern Persian type shows) has taken place. The pure Iranian is to be found among the Farris about Persepolis, and among the Loris (Loris), or mountaineers, somewhat farther to the west. Of the "ideal Persian type" there are three subvarieties; (1) A darker popu lation toward the southwest, along the line of con tact with the Arabs; a Semitic strain pointing toward Africa. (2) The great mass of the Persian population—the Hajemis and Tajiks of the east and northeast—the result of it Turkoman Tatar cross with the pure Iranian. llere belong also the Azerbaijan Tatars, Turkish in speech, but distinetly Iranian in race. (3) The Susians about the mouth of the Persian Gulf in the southeast, where a strain of Negroid blood is apparent, and relationship with the hill-tribes of India is sug gested. Some authorities, however, do not at tribute so much importance to the 'Negroid' traits of the Susians, since they may be due to slave intermixture. With the flajemis, whose habitat is chiefly between Teheran and Ispa han, belong the Talych, Mazanderani, and other tribes of the Caspian littoral, to W110111 are closely related both dialectically and otherwise the 'rat and Gunn of the extreme west, who are agri eulturists. The Tajiks are the settled agricul tural population of the greater port of Persia, as well as the stock from which many of its mercan tile classes conic. The same name is applied to their kindred between the Caspian, China, and In dia. The Tajiks are brachyeephalic and above the average in height, while the Hajemis and in part the Farris are dolichocephalic and of average stature. The Persians of the Persepoli tan country are fair-skinned, slender, finely formed, and blonds by comparison with their darker neighbors. The Loris or Loris are taller, much darker, and dolichocephalic. Besides its Aryan population, Persia contains a considerable number of Turks and some few Arabs. In the ex treme west Kurds (Aryans) are also to be found; likewise some Armenians, also Aryans. See Plate of ASIA, YELLOW RACES or.