Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-01-22

Cause Of the Annual Outbreak of the
Plague.

Cause Of the Annual Outbreak of the
Plague.
It is generally supposed, says the
Chicago Tribune, that the inundation of
the low lands of the Euphrates river is
the only cause of the outbreak of the
plague, or black death. They are con-
tributing, but not the only cause. The
real cause of the pestilence has been
known for years to the Persian and
Turkish Governments, Tut they have
done nothing toward its prevention. The
black death is not an uncommon disease
in that part of Mesopotamia lying south
west from Bagdad, between the right
shore of the Euphrates and the Syrian
desert. It has made its regular appear
auce there ever since the year 1872, be-
tween the months of December and
June. In Nedjef, or Medsched Ali, is
the grave of Ali, the son-in-law of the
Prophet Mahomet. From there leads a
desert road, marked out by the bleached
bones Of camels and human beings, to
the so-called Lake Euphrates, which re-
ceives its water through the Hintieh
canal. To the northwest Of this lake is
situated the city of Kerbela, where is to
be found the golden mosque and the
grave of Hussein, the son of Calph Ali
and the daughter of the Prophet. These
two cities are the real breeding places of
the dreadful disease. To Nedjeff and
Kerbela the Shiites, or religious follow
ers of Ali and Hussein, chiefly Persians,
send the dead bodies of their friends and
relatives, because they believe that to
be buried near Hussein's or Ais grave
will assure their souls certain admission
to paradise. Caravan after caravan,
each camel loaded with two felt-covered
collins on each side, arrive there daily
and deposit their CHASTITY freight for in
terment, which, during months of travel
from the Persian highlands, has been
decomposing and is filing the air with
its pestilential odor. The cofins are
placed in shallow trenches and covered
with about an inch or two of earth. But
this is not all. The whole country
around Nedjeff has become one vast
graveyard, and, in consequence of
the frequent floods occurring in the Eu-
pirates, all the lands on both sides of
the river are inundated, the light cover
ing Of earth is swept from the collins,
which, being made Of light material, fall
to pieces, and thousands upon thousands
of corpses are left rotting under the rays
of an Oriental sun. The waters finally
recede, or are gradually absorbed by the
soil, poisoning all the wells in that coun-
try. From Il, 900 to 10000 corpses are
sent there annually for interment by the
Shiites. The Jews send annually sew
eral thousands of their dead to be buried
near the grave Of their prophet Ezekiel,
which is also near Kerbela. Beside these
caravans there arrive fotillas of pilgrim
boats loaded with corpses on the Eu-
pirates by way of the Semawat branch
and the Bar-i-Nedjef. Not only are
they filed with this pestiferous freight,
but the collins are even hung outside of
the boats, loading them down to the wa
ter's edge. The constant arrival of
these caravans and fotillas with their
freight Of decaying human corpses, and
added to this the careless burial, must
be regarded as the cause Of the outbreak
of the plague, and the fatalistic negli-
gence of the Persian and Turkish Gov
ernments, which do not interfere until
the disease has become epidemic, ex-
plains why it has not been suppressed
during the last ten years. For long
time special treaty has been in exist
ence between these two Governments
relative to the transportation of these
corpses, but so far it has been treaty
on paper only. The people OF America
are in as much danger as the rest of the
world. It is about time that the civil
lied nations Of the earth should make
this question of the transportation of
corpses under an Oriental sun an inter
national question, and force the two
Governments directly interested to exc
cute the provisions of their treaty in
oOO6 faith