| Name of District. | Chief Place or Seat of Government. | Number of inhabited Villages in District. | ||
| Name. | Population. | |||
| 1 | Abādeh Iklīd | Abādeh | 4,000 | 33 |
| 2 | Abādeh-Tashk | Tashk | 600 | 8 |
| 3 | Abarj | Dashtek | 2,000 | 6 |
| 4 | Abbāsi | |||
| (1) Bander Abbāsi[1] and villages | Bander Abbāsi | 10,000 | 14 | |
| (2) Issīn and Taziān | Issīn | 6 | ||
| (3) Shamil | Shamil | 1,000 | 18 | |
| (4) Moghistan | Ziarat | 10 | ||
| (5) Mināb | Mināb | 4,000 | 23 | |
| 5 | Afzar | Nī-mdeh | 12 | |
| 6 | ‘Alemrūd | Sabzpushan | 1,000 | 16 |
| 7 | Arb’ah (the four) | |||
| (1) Deh Rūd | ||||
| (2) Deh Ram | Deh Ram | 1,500 | 19 | |
| (3) Hengam | ||||
| (4) Rudbāl | ||||
| 8 | Ardakān | Ardakān | 5,000 | 10 |
| 9 | Arsinjan | Arsinjan | 5,000 | 25 |
| 10 | Asīr | Asīr | 500 | 10 |
| 11 | Baiza | Baiza | 2,000 | 55 |
| 12 | Bī-dshahr and Juvī-m | Bī-dshahr | 3,000 | 23 |
| 13 | Bovanāt | Suriān | 500 | 23 |
| 14 | Darāb | Darāb | 5,000 | 62 |
| 15 | Dashti | |||
| (1) Bardistan | Bander Dair | 1,000 | 28 | |
| (2) Buluk | Bushgān | 18 | ||
| (3) Māndistan | Kāki | 1,500 | 40 | |
| (4) Tassūj | Tang Bagh | 500 | 11 | |
| (5) Shumbeh | Shumbeh | 15 | ||
| 16 | Dashtistān | |||
| (1) Angāli | Haftjūsh | 10 | ||
| (2) Ahrom | Ahrom | 1,500 | 5 | |
| (3) Borazjan | Borazjan | 4,000 | 19 | |
| (4) Bushire[1] | Bushire | 25,000 | 20 | |
| (5) Daliki | Daliki | 1,500 | 7 | |
| (6) Gonāvah | Gonāvah | 1,000 | 12 | |
| (7) Hayāt Daūd | Bander Rig | 1,000 | 6 | |
| (8) Khurmuj | Khurmuj | 1,000 | 5 | |
| (9) Rūd Hillah | Kelat Sukhteh | 10 | ||
| (10) Shaban Kareh | Deh Kohneh | 27 | ||
| (11) Tangistan | Tangistan | 1,000 | 31 | |
| (12) Zengeneh | Samal | 750 | 4 | |
| (13) Zirāh | Zirāh | 6 | ||
| 17 | Dizkurd | Cherkes | 500 | 6 |
| 18 | Famur | Pagah | 300 | 3 |
| 19 | Ferrashband | Ferrashband | 1,000 | 14 |
| 20 | Fessa | Fessa | 5,000 | 40 |
| 21 | Firuzabad | Firuzabad | 4,000 | 20 |
| 22 | Gillehdār | Gillehdār | 1,000 | 43 |
| 23 | Hūmeh of Shiraz | Zerkān | 1,000 | 89 |
| 24 | Istahbanat | Istahbanat | 10,000 | 12 |
| 25 | Jahrum | Jahrum | 10,000 | 33 |
| 26 | Jireh | Ishfāyikān | 23 | |
| 27 | Kamfiruz | Palangeri | 34 | |
| 28 | Kamin | Kalilek | 11 | |
| 29 | Kazerun | Kazerun | 8,000 | 46 |
| 30 | Kavār | Kavār | 26 | |
| 31 | Kir and Karzīn | Kir | 1,000 | 23 |
| 32 | Khafr | Khafr | 1,000 | 41 |
| 33 | Khajeh | Zanjiran | 500 | 15 |
| 34 | Khisht | Khisht | 2,500 | 25 |
| 35 | Khunj | Khunj | 1,500 | 27 |
| 36 | Kongān | Bander Kongān | 12 | |
| 37 | Kuh Gilū and Behbahan | Behbahan | 10,000 | 182 |
| 38 | Kurbāl | Gavkan | 600 | 67 |
| 39 | Kuh i Marreh Shikeft | Shikeft | 41 | |
| 40 | Kunkuri | Kazian | 29 | |
| 41 | Laristan | |||
| (1) Lar | Lar | 8,000 | 34 | |
| (2) Bikhah Ihsham | Bairam | 11 | ||
| (3) Bikhah Fal | Ishkenān | 10 | ||
| (4) Jehāngiriyeh | Bastak | 4,000 | 30 | |
| (5) Shib Kūh | Bander Chārak | 36 | ||
| (6) Fūmistan or Gavbandi | Gāvbandi | 13 | ||
| (7) Kauristān | Kauristān | 4 | ||
| (8) Lingah[1] | Bander Lingah | 10,000 | 11 | |
| (9) Mazāyijan | Mazāyijan | 6 | ||
| 42 | Mahūr Milāti | Jemalgird | 5 | |
| 43 | Maimand | Maimand | 5,000 | 14 |
| 44 | Maliki | Bander Assalu | 1,000 | 25 |
| 45 | Mamasenni (Shūlistan) | |||
| (1) Bekesh | 8 | |||
| (2) Javīdi or Jāvi | 6 | |||
| (3) Dushmanziaris | 16 | |||
| (4) Rustami | Kal‘ah Safid | 26 | ||
| (5) Fahlian | 7 | |||
| (6) Kākān | 5 | |||
| 46 | Māyin | Māyin | 8 | |
| 47 | Mervast and Herāt | Mervast | 14 | |
| 48 | Mervdasht | |||
| (1) Upper Khafrek | 14 | |||
| (2) Lower Khafrek | Fathabad | 1,250 | 16 | |
| (3) Mervdasht | 22 | |||
| 49 | Meshhed Mader Sulimān | Murghāb | 800 | 6 |
| 50 | Nīrīz | Nīrīz | 9,000 | 24 |
| 51 | Ramjird | Jashian | 36 | |
| 52 | Rūdan and Ahmedī | Dehbariz | 21 | |
| 53 | Sab‘ah (the seven) | |||
| (1) Bīvunj (Bī-vanej) | Durz | 14 | ||
| (2) Hasanabad | Hasanabad | 7 | ||
| (3) Tarom | Tarun | 2,000 | 15 | |
| (4) Fāraghān | Fāraghān | 1,500 | 13 | |
| (5) Forg | Forg | 3,000 | 18 | |
| (6) Fīn and Guhrah | Fīn | 13 | ||
| (7) Gileh Gāh (abandoned) | Ziaret | 1,000 | 11 | |
| 54 | Sarchahān | |||
| 55 | Sarhad Chahār Dungeh | |||
| (1) Dasht Ujān | ||||
| (2) Dasht Khosro va Shirin | Kūshk | 31 | ||
| (3) Dasht Khūngasht | ||||
| (4) Dasht Kushk Zard | ||||
| 56 | Sarhad Shesh Nahīyeh | |||
| (1) Pādinā (foot of Mount Dinā | Khūr | |||
| (2) Hennā | Hennā | |||
| (3) Samiram | Samiram | |||
| (4) Felārd | Felārd | 24 | ||
| (5) Vardasht | Germabad | |||
| (6) Vank | Vank | |||
| 57 | Sarvistan | Sarvistan | 4,500 | 23 |
| 58 | Shiraz (town) in 1884 | 53,607[2] | . . | |
| 59 | Siyākh | Darinjān | 13 | |
| 60 | Simkān | Dūzeh | 28 | |
The above sixty districts are grouped into eighteen sub-provinces under governors appointed by the governor-general of Fars, but the towns of Bushire, Lingah and Bander Abbasi, together with the villages in their immediate neighbourhood, form a separate government known as that of the “Persian Gulf Ports” (Benādir i Khalij i Fars), under a governor appointed from Teheran. The population of the province has been estimated at 750,000 and the yearly revenue it pays to the state amounts to about £150,000. Many districts are fertile, but some, particularly those in the south-eastern part of the province, do not produce sufficient grain for the requirements of the sparse population. In consequence of droughts, ravages of locusts and misgovernment by local governors the province has been much impoverished and hundreds of villages are in ruins and deserted. About a third of the population is composed of turbulent and lawless nomads who, when on the march between their winter and summer camping grounds, frequently render the roads insecure and occasionally plunder whole districts, leaving the inhabitants without means of subsistence.
The province produces much wheat, barley, rice, millet, cotton, but the authorities every now and then prohibiting the export of cereals, the people generally sow just as much as they think will suffice for their own wants. Much tobacco of excellent quality, principally for consumption in Persia, is also grown (especially in Fessa, Darab and Jahrom) and a considerable quantity of opium, much of it for export to China, is produced. Salt, lime and gypsum are abundant. There are also some oil wells at Daliki, near Bushire, but several attempts to tap the oil have been unsuccessful. There are no valuable oyster-banks in Persian waters, and all the Persian Gulf pearls are obtained from banks on the coast of Arabia and near Bahrein.
(A. H.-S.)
[1] Are forming separate administrative division of “Persian Gulf Ports.”
[2] Persian census in 1884; 25,284 males, 28,323 females.
FARTHING (A.S. feórtha, fourth, +ing, diminutive), the smallest English coin, equal to the fourth of a penny. It became a regular part of the coinage from the reign of Edward I., and was, up to the reign of Mary, a silver coin. No farthing was struck in the reign of Elizabeth, but a silver three-farthing piece was issued in that reign, with a profile bust of the queen crowned, with a rose behind her head, and inscribed “E.D.G. Rosa sine spina.” The copper farthing was first introduced in the reign of James I., a patent being given to Lord Harington of Exton in 1613 for the issue of copper tokens of this denomination. It was nominally of six grains’ weight, but was usually heavier. Properly, however, the copper farthing dates from the reign of Charles II., in whose reign also was issued a tin farthing, with a small copper plug in the centre, and an inscription on the edge, “Nummorum famulus 1684.” No farthings were actually issued in the reign of Queen Anne, though a number of patterns were prepared (see [Numismatics]: medieval section, England). In 1860 the copper farthing was superseded by one struck in bronze. In 1842 a proclamation was issued giving currency to half-farthings, and there were several issues, but they were demonetized in 1869. In 1897 the practice was adopted of darkening farthings before issue, to prevent their being mistaken for half-sovereigns.