The Placer herald., 1871-10-07
FAMINES.

Inc earliest 1dInlne OF Wnlcn we nave any
account is that Of Abraham after ne had
pitched his tent on the east of Bethel, wher
abraham went down into Egypt to sojourr
there, for the famine was glisvous in the
land" We next hear Of the famine in the
days of Joseph, when "all countries came
into Egypt to Joseph to buy corn, because
the famine was sore in all lands"
The modern history of Egypt throws ligh,
on those ancient records, as well as on the
present famine in Persia. A famine of grea,
severity is recorded by Abd-el-Latuf, who
was an eyewitness, and trustworthy al
thority. 1t occurred in the year 1900. III
states that the people were driven to the las
extremities, eating offal and even their owr
dead, and mentions, as an instance of the
dire straits to which they were pushed, that
persons who were burnt alive for eating hu.
man flesh, were themselves thus ready roast.
ed, eaten by others. Another yet more re-
markable famine, was that of the reign oi
Fatimee Khaleefat El-Mustansir- Billah
which is the only instance on record of one Of
several years duration in Egypt since the
time Of Joseph. This famine exceeded in
severity all modern times. 1t occurred A. D.
1O64-'71. Vehement draught and pesti-
lence continued for seven consecutive years,
30 that the people ate corpses and carcaases
Of animals that had died themselves. Organ
lied bands Of kidnappers, who infested Cairo,
caught passengers in the streets by ropes
furnished with hooks and let down from the
houses. All the horses of the monarch per-
ished save three, and even his women fled
on foot, by way Of Syria. to escape the COM
mon peril.
In the year 1870 the comparative price of
wheat in England was 1,O08 shillings per
quarter, and Peckham, as quoted by Fleet
wood, states that provisions were SO scarce
that parents did eat their own children"
In the year 1901, in France, in the reign
Of Robert the Pious, the son Of Hugh Capet,
there was a terrible famine. 1t is stated
that the distress for food was 30 great that
the bodies of the dead were no sooner COM
mitted to the grave than they were .orn up
and devoured by the famished people. Tray
elers were murdered, and children decoyed
from their parents and slain for food A
butcher of Toumay was condemned to be
burned for exposing human flesh for sale in
his shop.
The celebrated type Of Death on the Pale
Horse, occurring in the sixth chapter of Rev.
elation, is applied by very judicious and
learned expositor to the famine and pestilence
which prevailed in the Roman Empire dur
ing the reigns Of Decius, Gallus and Vale
rian, from A. ID. $50 to 265. This plague,
says Gibbon, ragged without interruption for
fifteen years in every province, every city,
and almost every family in the Roman Em-
pire. During portion Of the time 5000
persons died daily in Rome; and many towns
were entirely depopulated. He calculates
that one-half of the human race was destroy
ed. At Alexandra an exact register was
kept of all the citizens entitled to receive the
distribution of corn. 1t was found that the
entire number Of those comprised between
the ages Of forty and seventy had been
equal to the whole sum Of claimants, from
fourteen to fourscore years Of age, who re-
mained alive after the death Of Gallienus.
Applying this authentic fact to the most cor
rect tables of mortality, it evidently proves
that about one-half of the people Of Alexan.
dria had perished, and could we venture to
extend the analogy to other provinces, we
might suspect that war, pestilence and famine
had consumed in few years the moiety Of
the human race.