The Persian Famine.

Cromwell Argus, Volume II, Issue 101, 17 October 1871, Page 3

The Persian Famine.

—o—(From the New Yorklhrald, Judy 28.)

The reports we are receiving liere give new and, if possible, even more horrible and appalling details of the Persian famine. The dearth is very much more wide-spread than at first re-. ported. In place of being confined to the province of Khorassan, it extends over the entire land. Already the loss of • life has been fearful. Persia is said, on reliable authority, to have lost 50 per cent, of her population. Thousands of people, half famished, have dragged themselves across the frontier into Turkish Arabia and Cabool, while those who have not had the energy to emigrate, or have been prevented from doing so by the strong arm of the Government, are daily dying by thousands from starvation. A Persian subject cannot leave his native country, even to go Upon a pilgrimage to Meshed Hosein, or to Mecca, without special permission from the authorities ; and this permission is even now, in spite of the present appalling state of the country, still insisted upon. The people, in desperation, however, use every means to elude the vigilance of the Government, and escape into happier lands. It appears that there was a terrible drought last year, which was followed, a3 a natural consequence, by a partial failure of the crops. There was great suffering and privavation, but comparatively little mortality. It is a curious fact that this famine is, to a great exone result, though of course an indirect one, of the American Civil War. There is a belt of country in Persia which is eminently calculated for the production of cotton, and the high price of that article seven or eight years a?o induced many of the smaller cultivators to abandon other crops and embark in this production. This opening for commerce rapidly developed into a large trade, and a couple of lines of steamers have been started from Bombay to Bushire, a port on the Persian Gulf, and the only one of importance on Persia's limited sea-coast. The money gained by the sale of cotton was obtained to buy provisions from Fars or Farsistan and the southern provinces, which are better adapted to the growth of wheat and rice. The high price of opium, owing to the tax imposed upon its export by the British Indian Government, has also stimulated the production of poppies instead of graiu. Last year there were two thousand chests of this drug exported from Bushire. The silk trade has also largely increased. These causes have all operated to diminish the area of land employed in the raising of provisions, and have doubtless tended to aggravate the consequences of the present bad season. The partial famine last year exhausted such small accumulated stocks of provisions as were in the country. The people, however, managed to linger through the winter, hoping that the spring crop—(there are two crops yearly in Persia)—would bring back plenty. Early in the year, in spite of the general impoverishment of the people, the government, with shocking inhumanity, raised the taxes. This conrplcted the misery of its unhappy subjects. What little money they had left was torn from them, and they were left beggared to face a year whose horrors had hut begun. The first effect of the increased taxation was to drive the people from their homes in the country to the big cities, as, owing to a curious law, the imposts upon tillers of the soil are very much heavier than those exacted from the dwellers in towns. In cities, indeed, the mass of the population practically escape taxation, and the revenue is raised, with the exception of a poll tax, from the merchants. Before the end of the winter, the famine had spread from FarI sistan to the other Provinces, which depended upon it for supplies. The cities of Ispahan* Yczd, Kerman, and Shiran were crowded with starving multitudes. Teheran, the capital, suffered least, hut even there the privations were terrible. Wheat in Kerman rose to nine times its usual price. The new crop has failed also. The people have endeavoure 1 to keep themselves alive by eating grass and roots ; but even this scanty nourishment has now been exhausted. In Khorassan, which borders on Cabool, and the J wild steppes of Central Asia, people sold their children into slavery among the Turcomans in order to save them from starvation, and, at the same time, to acquire a few tomauns to spend in the bazaar for sustenance. In Ispahan men have been caught in the act of exhuming the corpses of the dead for the purpose of eatingthem. Among the results of the famine, it may- be mentioned that all domestic animals, —even horses, of which Persia raised a great many, not only for her o.ra use, but also for exportation t<i India, have been killed and eaten. The people are almost beyond the reach of help. Even if food were brought from India, there are no cattle left to transport it into the interior ; and even if there were, it is a month's journey fn.m Bushire to Ispahan, and six weeks'to Khorassan. This dearth will probably be the most horrible oiie on record. Two years ago, a couple of millions of peoplo died in India of starvation. Unless, however, the Persian Government consents to the deportation of its subjects, there will be among it> 8,0(10,00!) of people a mortality even more appalling than tln3.