It is very difficult, if not impossible, to discover the exact value of the export and import trade of Persia. The source of this information is naturally the Customs Administration, which in Persia exists but in name. The duties of the ports and principal towns are farmed out to various persons, whose interest it is to send the inquirer away as ignorant upon the subject as he was before the interview began. But it is possible, after a great deal of labor in collecting statistics from the dealers of a particular article, to form an estimate probably not very far from the truth. By this method we judge that the average yearly export value of rugs in Aaragh (the Sultanabad district) is three hundred thousand dollars; Hamadan one hundred thousand; Bijar one hundred and ten thousand; Malair one hundred thousand dollars; Kurdistan fifty thousand; Fars seventy-five thousand; Kirman and Khorassan one hundred thousand; and in the less known districts collectively, fifty thousand dollars. The total of these figures classes the rug export in the very first order of exports. It is plain that this amount does not represent the full value of the manufacture, inasmuch as a great quantity of the goods does not leave the country. This quantity is perhaps small in comparison with that exported, but it is large enough to make the value nearly a million dollars. It may be of interest to mention here that the export duty on rugs on the average is two and a half cents per square foot, and carriage to the seaports ten cents per square foot, while the import duty to the United States is forty per cent _ad valorem_ and the specific duty ten cents per square foot. [Illustration: KHORASSAN RUG SIZE, 10 × 26 _This is a perfect example of a Meshhed rug. The capital city of Khorassan has furnished many characteristic specimens of fine handicraft, but none more representative or beautiful. Here, on a splendid rich blue field, is the elongated palm leaf, with its markings of magenta, red, and blue. These palm-leaf designs extend over the entire rug, which is of enormous size. The border is in harmony with the field, and in coloring has the same deep, rich hues. The texture is firm and the rug is very heavy and imposing, with an air of solidity and strength. The illustration shows a section of this rug, giving a clear idea of its detail._ OWNED BY MRS. SYDNEY RICHMOND TABOR, LAKE FOREST, ILLINOIS.] In Persia several firms have done a great deal in the way of encouraging the industry of rug-weaving in that country. To supply the demand for Persian rugs in Europe and America, these firms have erected buildings in Sultanabad, where they keep the weavers under control and steadily employed. These firms, having been long established, are conversant with the Persians and their character; and to prevent any deception they pay the weavers by the piece instead of by the day.