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Show J By W. U. Telerraph.' I IIORKIBLE STATE OF AFFA1KS I I THE PERSIAN FAM15E. j t New York, '20. Special cables add i a little to the information already re-1 j reived of the dreadful famine in Persix j Drouth last year in the central and; j southern provinces and a consequent1 'partial failure of the crops, caused1 1 great destitution and misery all winter. : At the same time the taxes were in- I creased on the people, which brought j j on limine by causing many to leave i their homes and a consequent decline j j of taxes to the government. A new' governor promised to raise not onlyl the usual sum but still more, and this! apprehension drove the rest of the 1 country people from their homes and; thronged the cities, which pay no taxes. The failure of crops .in Griston j was rendered more disastrous because j the other provinces, which mostly raise opium and cotton and silk, depend on it Ibr their grain. The results in Ispahan, Ispa-han, Yezd, Kirman and Shirat were terrible by the end of the winter. Before Be-fore the new crop the cities were crowded. Wheat ac Kirman rose nine times the usual price, and starvation began. Yezd raises opium. There the people could buy no grain, and they ate grass aud roots. In Khoras-tan Khoras-tan the people sold iheuchildren to Turcomans to save their lives ; and in uther provinces the people ate their, children, having eaten all their domestic domes-tic animals aud even ihe vermrn. In Isapahan men were caught digging up corpses to feed their starving families, and pestilence, iu consequence, committed com-mitted fearful ravages. One-half of Persia is said to be depopulated. |
