THE DESOLATION IN PERSIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 3565, 21 June 1872, Page 3

THE DESOLATION IN PERSIA.

(From the Times of India, April 22. J

The following extract from a report by Quartermaster-Sergeant Bower, R.E., on the present condition of that part of Persia where famine was at its worst a few months ago, has been placed at the disposal of the press : “ My first march from Ispahan was to the village of Gevary, and the numerous newlymade graves in its vicinity fully corroborated the evidence I gathered on entering it. Of a prosperous population of 600 only 100 remained, 200 had deserted the place, and 300 had died from starvation. The principal kanauts were quite dry, but a few patches of cultivation were being irrigated by a precarious supply of well water, and most of the once beautiful fruit trees were dead. At Seyzil and Kupi, two large and once populous villages, the case was much the same, but on entering tho Kohrood Hills, there was a visible improvement iu tho general condition of tho inhabitants, which continued to Pudus. This was probably attributable to the greater continuity of the mountain springs to that of the artificial kanauts of the plains, as also to the superior pasturage for cattle. From Pudus, however, to the boundary of the province of Yezd at Ser-i-Yczd, the distress had been far greater than at either Gevary, Seyzil, or Xupi; and Ser-i-Yczd itself may bo said to be depopulated, since of -1800, but 300 remain ! It was here that the first instance of cannibalism occurred, aud although the murderer was arrested and immediately executed, the example failed to restrain others in their terrible agonies of hunger. Of Yezd, I was informed that 30,000 souls had cither died or deserted it ; and judging from its empty bazaars, general desolation, and the melancholy aspect of the few people met with, I should say the famine had beeu as represented, more severe there than at any other town in Persia. Tho reason assigned for this was, that Yezd was not a self-supporting province, aud that internal necessities had been improvidently lost sight of iu the cultivation of opium and silk for exportation; but it was satisfactory to see that the experience bought by such a sacrifice of life was resulting iu the almost exclusive cultivation of grain. Bread is now comparatively cheap, being put one kran per miuiml or lOd per 711 b, but grain continues to be imported from Kirman. As a consequence of the famine the country from Ispahan to about 100 miles cast of Yezd is m a very unsettled state ; and, owing to the late robbery of 4000 tomans of revenue and tho murder of three men conveying it to Teheran, large guards have been posted at tho first three stages out of Yezd. The province of Kirman has not suffered much, and I am of opinion that it is now one of the best governed and prosperous parts of Persia.”