Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1872-02-16
THE F.y.uI.vE ~ PBRsI.S.

begins in the Province of Irak, near Ham
adam, the capital of ancient Media, ana cX-
tends eastward 800 miles over the table
land To Afuhanistan aud soulhward over
the same table lands and the mountains to
the Persian Gulf. To be sure the greater
mart of this immense area was but noun
tains and deserts before the famine began.
The resources which once made Persia a
great nation have gone to decay under sue
cessive wars, constan. misrule, and the
curse of fnlso religion. Vast regions once
irrigated by man or watored by the rains
of heaven have ceased to be cultivated.
ANY one who has travelled in the far east
remembers the vast dry prairies, which,
with water, would be as fruitful as Illinois,
but without il are as barren as the shifting
sands. The places supplied with water
yield every kind of ffuit and grain in a
bundance. Roses of every variety and
lovelicst flowers bloom in the gardens and
fields and by the way side. These beauti-
fu and favored districts have nourished
the large and famous cities of Persia that
now are furnishing.
On the Persian Gulf is Bushirc the prn-
of this is Shiraz, the capital of Ears or Per-
sa proper, celebrated as the home of poets
and the successor of the capitals of Cyrus
and Darius. Eastward are YeZo, herman,
Meshid-each the capital of a large prov
ince. Irak. which comprises the greater
rart of ancient Media, and Parthia con-
tans many of the finest cities of the king
dom. Ispahn, the old capital, and Teherah,
the present capital, have each population
of near 100000. Casbin, Koorn, Cashan
and many other towns are considerable
size. Hamadan bounds the region of act
ual famine on the west, as from this point
westward and northward the failure Of the
crops is but partial.
The ADMINISTRATION region, besides these
popuous cities, has countless villages of
cultivators of the soil and numerous tribes
of pastoral nomads. The population with
in the famine amounts to five or six mill
ions in the three classes indicated, dwell
ers in cities who are the artisans ard mer-
chants, dwelers in the villages who till
the soil and dwelers in tents vino pasture
their focks and herds on the mountains
and deserts. The severity of the famine in
the cities and villages during the past
twelve months has been terrible in the eX
treme. In Teheran the royal residence,
the resources of the government and the
efforts Of foreign residents have prevented
| the extent of suffering to which other pla-
ces have been reduced. In Ispahan the
number of deaths by famine up to August
last was stated officially at 1000; the act
ual number was doubtless far greater. Rev.
Robert Bruce, an English missionary on
the spot, under date of April 3, writes Of
| the suffering in Isphan: "The famine
here has reached climax. The state of
the poor in Ispahan is truly deporable.
1t is impossible to go through the town
without seeing numbers of dead or dying
| by the side of the streets. \ month later,
i'm May, he says: II could ill letters with
| heart-rendng scenes and stories ofmiserics,
starvation and death. Dead bodies, halt
| eaten by animals, on the roads are seen by
almost every traveller" a few weeks la
ter Lc writes again: The famine here
has been frightful, nearly one-third Of the
population of many towns in the neighbor-
hood having died oft"
Another eye witness, HISTORIAN preach
er laboring in lspahAn and vicinity. gives
similar testimony. He says:
1t is impossible for tongue to describe
the horrors. Multitudes are dying of star
vation and multitudes have fed. The FAM
ished people hardly look like human be-
ings. As go into the streets the dead and
dying and speechess meet the eye on ev-
cry side. They snatch at everything to ca
--chafl of barley, blood of animals, flesh o
horses and donkeys. Lamentations auc
bitter crying for bread are heard on every
hand as the poor people stagger along the
street. You Will see people in the publ,
square selling their clothes and everything
they possess in order to get few pieces o
bread TO prolong their suffering for n bre
hour, when they must die. Three-fourth,
of Ispahan are beggars for bread.
The condition of things further south ha'
been even more fearful. In Shiraz and vi
cinity whole families have died Off and
lain unburied, or in some instances tho
corpses been devoured by the survivors
In Ispahan, even. in few instances child
rem are know to have been kidnapped tC
be killed and eaten. Through the grea
provinces of Herman and Khorasan thi,
famine has been increasing through thre,
successive years, and in many places hal
the population have perished. The capita
of the last named province is very cee
brated Prussan city and shrine a city o
100000 or 10000 inhabitants. The lates
news is that of the inhabitants of Meshed
two-thirds perished the past summer from
hunger and disease, and most of the rem
nant fled to the country and were captured
by rowing bands of Turk Omans and led in
TO captivity.
From the little intelligence that reache
the world from miss sonaries and other Eu
ropean countries, we catch glimpscs of th
CHASTITY and fearful calamity that cover tn,
land. The scenes depicted in Ispahan il
still more lurid colors might be witnessed
in thousands of villages and towns, an,
ten thousand families. No extravaganza
of Imagination can out-do the facts. Mucl
as the people of France suffered in war an,
defeat, or the people of Chicago and tn
northwest from fire, the year 1871 has it
darkest record in the unrecorded horror
of famine and pestilence in Persia. Thi
famine, moreover, is not at an end. IT
some localities rs iu the vicinity of Ispahan
there has been n partial harvest, which al
levates the distress for a time. But tn
short store of provisions furnishes no sur
plus, and will be soon consumed and thu
before another harvest the severity of SUI
icring will return even in the towns an,
villages. But outside the fixed population
are two or three millions of Eelyat' or pas
toral tribes. And among these, at the pres
ent time, direst miscries are experienced.
The famine is not only one Of cereals
but of forage as we'll. The prophet of ole
exclaims "Alasl for the day how do tn
beasts groan! The herds of cattle are per
picked because they have no pasture, ye
, the nocks of shccp are made desolate