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l J liotograph from Foreign Missions Library 

 ORPHAN BOYS OF INDIA, WHO OWE THEIR LIVES TO THE PROMPT RELIEF MEASURES 

 ADOPTED IN THE FAMINE OF I9OO 



Tn spite of the fact that its peasants are among the most frugal in the world and its 

 wheat fields, under favorable conditions, are among the -most fertile, India has suffered more 

 from famine than any other country. The density of population in certain areas and the 

 absolute dependence of crops upon an abundance of rain account for the toll which starvation 

 has exacted in this vast empire for 2,000 years. 



the bodies of their victims. It was dur- 

 ing this siege that the Roman youth, 

 Pontius Cominius, swam the Tiber "on 

 corks," and by a secret path scaled the 

 garrison hill, bringing important news to 

 Manlius. 



In the morning the path was discovered 

 by the enemy, and the following night the 

 Gauls began the ascent, their secret at- 

 tack being frustrated only through the 

 cackling of the geese in the temple of 

 Juno, which awakened Manlius in time 

 for him to hurl the leading assailant down 

 upon his comrades and thus save the 

 citadel. 



Famine and pestilence continuing, the 

 Romans finally agreed to ransom their 

 desolated city for a thousand pounds of 

 gold. In the process of weighing the 

 treasure they protested against the cheat- 

 ing of the barbarians ; whereupon the 

 Gallic leader cast his sword into the scale, 

 crying, "Yae victis" (Woe to the con- 



quered), an admonition which, as the 

 present European conflict proves, has not 

 lost its significance in the more than 

 twenty centuries which have rolled over 

 the war-racked world since that direful 

 day. 



One of the earliest chiefs of system- 

 atic famine relief work was Augustus 

 Caesar, who was at war with the Par- 

 thians when summoned back to Rome by 

 the disaster of 23 B. C, when the Tiber 

 overflowed, causing wide-spread suffer- 

 ing. 



The starving plebeians proclaimed him 

 dictator and urged him to assume control 

 of the corn supply, which he did with 

 exceptional skill and industry. He sent 

 ships to many quarters of the Mediter- 

 ranean to collect corn, and placed his 

 grandson, Tiberius, in charge of the work 

 of unloading the grain at Ostia and trans- 

 porting it to the capital, all of which was 

 done with great dispatch. 



72 



