PROGRESS OF PERSIA.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXXII, Issue 175, 25 November 1873, Page 1 (Supplement)

PROGRESS OF PERSIA.

Already (the Friend of India says), before the Shah has left or even reached England, the breath of the new order of things had begun to stir in Persia. Mr. Bruce, who has given himself to that country, and fed thousands of its people last year during the famine from his mission-house at Julfa, in the suburbs of Ispahan, writes full of hope. Pirst of all, the wheat harvest is so good this year that prices have fallen to £d. a pound for good bread, while last year sd. was given for the same quantity of a compound of straw, earth, and bran. " The Shah's visit to Europe, the railroad, the very increased interest now shown by very many Persians in Ispahan in the study of the Christian Scriptures and many other things, especially the great desire for religious liberty manifested by the numerous Mahomedan sects here, and the very enlightened policy (though, perhaps, not always accompanied by sufficient wisdom and caution) adopted by the present Grand Wuzeer — all show that great changes must occur before long in this country." Mr. Bruce represents the followers of the Baab sect, many of whom were formerly executed by the chief Mujtahid, as growing in boldness. He is working at a Persian translation of the New Testament, and in his com position of a Bible hittory he is helped by a very learned Soofy and a tolerably learned Moollah, both of whom abhor Mahomedanism. He has purchased the missionhouse at Julfa, and waits for the Church Missionary Society to do its duty to Persia in this new sera.