The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-02-18
THE FAM|AEs OF HISTORY
Four Hundred Times Have Different
Portions Of the Earth Been
Stricken.
In Palestine, Flowing With Milk
and Honey, They Are Not
Unknown.

Unknown.
Famiaes In Egypt Before Irrigation Wa
Nvactieed-One Year Without
Drop OF Rain.
The statisticians record nearly 40
faminss in the history OF the world tina
have been Of considerable Importance, blu
the list is only relatively correct. those o
minor consequence not being mentioned
In India, owing directly to drought, and IL
China for a variety Of reasons, these peri
DDS of scarcity have been endemic from
time immemorial. and there is no means o
knowing how many have occurred. III
China local famines would be OF annual oc-
currence except for the f~orethought of thu
government III supplying rice. while those
that succeed the frequent foundations OF
the Yellow river are appalling. says the San
Francisco Chronicle. And there was a
famine in the land ID the soriptural man
nor Of denoting one of these seourgss. In
Palestine, the Canaan of the 1sraslitss. tbs
land flowing with milk and honey, the pop
ulation existed in a state of constant SUI
ferine for want OF food. In patrlarchal
times all the Hebrews migrated to Egypt to
avoid psrishing BY pure starvation.
Food appears to have been abundant III
the valley of the Nile at this epoch, though
before the people had learned how to di-
wort the water of the river into their
fields and to use it in the most economical
#M Z-.- 49,. L. 61xnA.. Sc ~nvo an IA
this region ss elsewhere. We are not aware
that the ancient Greeks suffered severely
for want of food, for if their own seas,
forests, aud fields did not produce enough
they could draw supplies OF grain from the
countries about the Mediterranean. The
Phosnicians, who had colonizsd the south
Of France and Spain, drew their supplies
from the granaliss of Africa, but all the
tribes inhabiting the northern forests OF
Europe, among which may be numbered
they did in = great measure. by the chase
wers dscimated BY amino at least one
year in three.
Famine was unknown among the ancient
Romans in the sarly period of their history,
that is as long as their manner continued
them with foreign conquest. The rich be-
came very rich; the poor very poor. The
former bought great estates in the country,
and a great part OF the arabic land was
turned into parks and gardens, driving the
peasants to Rome, where they augmented
the destitute Glasses and had t9be fed by
the government. 1t was q curious state Of
things in the imperial city caused by this
necessity of feeding at least half the pop
ulation to prevent rebellion. 1t required a
whole fleet of grain ships to bring supplies
from Africa or Syria, and if they we're &C
cidsntally delayed by. a storm the emperor
fairly trembled on his throne from fear Of
tho people. The most notable famine in
Roman annals was in the reign of Titus,
seventy-nine years after Christ, when the
starving cohorts robelled and pillaged the
sonvoys of provisions on their way to Rome
TO feed the famished popnlace.
During the dark and middle ages the
population of Northern Europe, and of
France especially. lived in an atmosphere
of war, famine and pestilence. In the year
541 not a drop of rain fell in Europe and
scarcely moro in Asla, and the natural re-
sult was a three years. famine, and during
it the wants of a part of the people of
Europe were supplied by the ships of the
little Italian republics just beginning to
have 4 precarious existence, which brought
grain from Africa. Not long afterward
France was 80 desolated by a failure of the
crops that the public treasury was ex-
hausted to feed the people, and King Clovis
wan SAANS " 80 VAN StANVL " RAO |
royal tombs in the cathedral of st. Denis.
There were two remarkable famines during
the reign Of Charlemague in the eighth
century, and several in the ensuing century,
so severe that the famished peasantry made
btead of earth. During the two or three
succeeding centuries they occurred with
distressing regularity. having as their prin-
cipal causes wars among the feudal lords
and the orusades.
Whole regions were d%epopulated, the
misery being increased by the ravages of
the plague. Cannibalism was of daiiy oc-
currencs. Parents fed upon their children
and children dsvoured their parents. Rats.
mice, reptiles and every imaginable abom-
lnatlon served to give variety to these foul
feasts. In the eleventh century there were
forty-eieht years of famine out of sixty
three. Theirs were thirty-three years of
famine in the twelfth century, cased by
wars among the nobility. Paris often SUI
fered from famine during long sieges, in
one of which one-third of her population
persisted. That was in 1888. During the
siege of the city By Horny ". $50 persons
were found dead every morning in the
ages, whether in the Netherlands, France,
Ireland or Italy. offer the same triehtfui
peculiarities.
Famines followed, necessarily, in France
on the prostactod wars of Louis XIV,
with a repetition of all the horrors already
UoIdllbus AEo AlEk 0uu6MNOr9Q, having
caused tbs miseriss of his subjects, to al
leviate them to the best of his ability by
edlcts to prevent tbs boarding of food sup
plies, and by importing grain at the public
expense. During the reign of Louis Nv,
his successor, there wxs a continual scare
lty of food, and the misery of the people
was increased by what was called the Fam
inc league, an association of courtiers and
other mobiles to buy up grain and sell it at
double prices. After this and a host Of
other infamies it was only natural that the
delugs should como in the shape of the
revolution to sweep away the feudaI iniuui-
ties that had accumulated until thew had
become absolutely inappropriate to a lone.
suffering people.
Since Genghis Khan and Tamerlane. the
thirty years war furnishes tho most per
tinent illustration of tho horrors Of that
pattlculng sroutgs OF mankind, In Lor-
ralns 6Oo cltlos and villages we're depor-
ulated and became mere piles of wood md
stone that emily sheltered wolves and other
wild animals. The srmiss took awav tI.a
draft animals. Dogs took their places.
Inc dcGs were taken away and replaced by
men. Tho msn were levied into the armies
ana the women took to wandering Though
the forests like Wild beasts. Ihs popuia-
ton gradually disapr cared through famine
and exposure, tai of 10000 human bcinos
only bO,o0O remained. Human flesh becnma
Il common article of diet. Families fed
upon one another. A woman was c,nnht
sailing tho limbs of her child. EIGHT vsers
old. The armies wers equally destitute for
food. A surgeon called upon to amputate a