The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1871-07-28
The Famine In Persia-The Horrors Of
NTu.suIuan Misgovcrument.

L
Persia we already know enough to realize
that this unhappy land is again the scene of
| one of those hideous famines which meet the
| eye at almost every page of Asiatic annals.
| The Euphrates Valley and the storied lands
that lie upon either hand of 1.-THE cradle of
the human family, the site of the earliest. en-
pires, the sacred soil that frightened first in
the dim gray dawn of religion and civilza-
tion-frOm the very beginning of human his
tory have been cursed by these horrible catas-
| trophies. Most of us have heard from q
mothers lips the touching story Of that seven
| years famine which spread over Egypt and
the Holy Land, and gave back to the arms
of Jacob his best beloved son. But this last
visitation in Persia is colored with far goOmier
tints than those that tinge the picture drawn
by the inspired pen. The horrors we
chronicle to-day make the heart turn sick and
| faint This bighted land we are told is flied
with famne-frenzed wretches, who, like evil
carrion birds, pick clean the bones of the dead
and prowl around the cemeteries, eager, as the
people of Paris were in that terrible siege by
| Henry the Fourth, to grind the bones OF their
ancestors to powder and bake them into bread.
is it wonderful that dreadful forms of pesti-
lence follow in the train of unnatural crimes
such as these? The cholera and the plague
seem, indeed, but appropriate instruments Of
Divine vengeance upon the men who have
been maddened by inanition into foul banquets
upon the corpses Of their brethren and the
ashes of their sres. Alas that the earth
should be darkened by miseries so appalling,
| by crimes so revolving to every sentiment of
human dignity.
| The causes of these terrible catasrophes
are many and complicated. They are the
same that have converted these fertile lands,
| once the home Of countless millions, into semi
abandoned wastes. We read of MesOpotamia
and Media in the past, and, after making every
allowance for Oriental eXaggeration, we are
dazzled by the wealth and splendor that
marked Assyrian, Persian and Babylonian
| civilization. These deserts where the bit
| tern raises its melancholy cry as
it stands in pools Of putrid water, and the
jackal and the hyena howl and moan, and the
wild boar and the lion range in search of prey,
were in happier days smiling fields OF plenty,
dotted with cities and towns, which were the
hospitable homes of sages, philosophers and
artists But the ambition and the greed of
unscrupulous and selfish military despots again
and again desolated and depopulated their
beautiful lands. Wave after wave of fire and
sword have swept across them, each more ter
ribly destructive than the last. This vast
region was already ruined when it came into
the hands of the Mussulman conquerors, who
now hold sway over it, and under the
shadow of the organized oppression OF the
Crescent it has grown each year more and
more sparseiy populated.
The evils of Turkish aud Persian rule can
scarcely be realized by description. The very
means of fertility-the canals, which formerly
| threaded the land-have been allowed to fall
into ruins and the waters of the great rivers,
bursting through the banks, have formed vast
| and unwholesome marshes. The people have
grown too wise to hope for riches, and they
live from hand to mouth, just raising
enough rice and wheat and dates
to last out the year, and never daring
to indulge in the luxury OF producing
| large crop lest it should tempt spoliaton.
They have but one ambition-to live like good
Mussumans in the practice of the piety Of the
Koran; and they have but one consolation
the society OF their three or four wives, il, in
deed, they have made money enough to &C
| quire so large a stock of feminine relations.
| The worst feature of this famne-and per-
| haDs its chief cause--is that Persia is almost
severed from communication with the outside
world. 1t is difficult to carry merchandise to
| the Persian frontier but greater obstacle is
that the country is absolutely destitute Of
roads. The only means Of transporting mer-
| chandise is by mules or camels or horses.
| There is not q wheeled vehicle in the length
and breadth of the land. and transportation,
sive, and all commerce in bulky articles and
in food is pecuniarily impossible.
Within the past quarter Of century CLEANS
Of light have, however, now and then begun to
brighten the gloomy prospects of this section
of the East The Russians have begun an
ever-increasing trade by way of the CASPIAN,
and there is line Of British steamers from
Bombay to Persia's only port, Bushire. Only
two or three years ago the Shah was almost
persuaded to fellow the example Of the Gar
and build government railroads. English
capitalists offered part of the money
needed but the scheme fell through. Perhaps,
however, if the Porte ever become sufficiently
enlightened to pierce the Euphrates Valley
With a railroad the Shah may follow its ex-
ample. The telegraph line is said to have
already convinced him, by giving him timely
information of two OF three projected insur-
rections. that Feranzee arts and inventions
strengthen rather than undermine a govern