THE DESOLATION IN PERSIA.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 232, 11 July 1872, Page 5

THE DESOLATION IN PERSIA.

(From the Times of India, April 22.) The following extract from a report by Quartermaster-Sergeant Bower, R.E., on the present condition of that part of Persia where famine was at its worst a few months ago, has been placed at the disposal of the press :— "My first march from Ispahan was to the village of Gevary, and the numerous newlymade graves in its vicinity fully corroborated the evidence I gathered on entering it Of a prosperous population of 600 only 100 remained, 200 had deserted the place, and 300 had died from starvation. The principal kanauts were quite dry, but a few patches of cultivation were being irrigated by a precarions supply of well water, and most of the once beautiful fruit trees were dead. At Seyzil and Kupi, two large and once populous villages, the case was much the same, but on entering Kohrood Hills, there was a visible improvement in the general condition of the inhabitants, which continued to Pudus. This [ was probably attributable to the greater continuity of the mountain springs to that of the artificial kanauts of the plans, as also to the superior pasturage for cattle. From Pudus, however, to the boundary of the province of Yezd at Ser-i-Yezd, the distress hid been far greater than at either Gevary, Seyzil, or -Xupi ; and Ser-i-Yezd itself may be said to be depopulated, since of 4,800 but 330 remain ! It was here that the first instance of cannibalism occurred, and although the murderer was arrested and immediately executed, the example failed to restrain others in their terrible agonies of hunger. Of Yezd, I was informed that ,30,000 souls had either died or deserted it ; and judging from its empty bazaars, general desolation, and. the melancholy aspect of the few people met with, I should say the famine had been more severe here than at any other town in Persia. _^______ — ____