It appears from the numerous ruins of Pyramids (and Round Towers), that the ancients, such as Zaphnath-paaneah and Moses—the latter under a great many different names—in their wisdom and forethought erected them as granaries, so that, notwithstanding the various causes of famine, their territories might be always well provisioned and able to withstand the attack of the dire enemy.

The Famine Statistics of modern times show how necessary those precautions were. If the Round Towers of Ireland had still been used in the Christian Era as granaries, and well stored with corn, instead of being turned into towers for hanging church bells in, how many precious lives would have been saved during all those famines which devastated that beautiful island!

The following is a Chronological Table of Famines^[84] that visited Ireland within the Christian Era.

The above table shows how terribly the Irish people have suffered from want of food, and how in their hunger they have been compelled to have recourse to cannibalism in order to save themselves from death by starvation. This sad picture should be a lesson to fanatics like those who, in their misdirected zeal to serve their Master in heaven, destroyed the granaries of the ancient people, mistaking them to be temples dedicated to heathen gods. For, had the pyramids, which appear to have existed in large numbers all over Ireland, been filled during the years of plenty, and the grain kept in reserve until the time of scarcity, there would then have been sufficient food not only for the inhabitants of Ireland, but also for the wants of the sister islands.

The following chronological table of the famines that have devastated England, Scotland and Wales, is taken from Walford’s Famines of the World. It presents a sad picture of human misery and wretchedness, which might have been prevented by wisdom and forethought.

To this list of heart-rending desolation caused by famine, may be added many other cases which have occurred more recently, and among them the appalling famine in China—a kingdom well provided with granaries constructed by the ancient founder, Moses. From the account given by a traveller, who marvelled at such solitary hills standing in plains surrounded by fertile corn-fields, it may safely be inferred that these Pyramids or Storehouses still remain unopened, and, consequently, are stored with the produce of the fields that surround them. So that had the Emperors of China been aware of the existence of such treasure-houses in their extensive dominions, peopled by innumerable millions of human beings, they would never have had the sorrow of reading such a harrowing account of misery suffered by their subjects, arising from want of food, which was so near at hand! This severe famine visited China in A.D. 1877-78, and is thus chronicled by Walford:—

“North China.—A telegram dated 26th January 1878, says: ‘Appalling famine raging throughout four provinces North China. Nine million people reported destitute. Children daily sold in markets for (raising means to procure) food. Foreign Relief Committee appeal to England and America for assistance.’ Total population of districts affected, seventy millions. Mr. Fredk. H. Balfour, of Shanghai, said: ‘The people’s faces are black with hunger; they are dying by thousands upon thousands. Women and girls and boys are openly offered for sale to any chance wayfarer. When I left the country, a respectable married woman could be easily bought for six dollars, and a little girl for two. In cases, however, where it was found impossible to dispose of their children, parents have been known to kill them sooner than witness their prolonged sufferings, in many instances throwing themselves afterwards down wells, or committing suicide by arsenic.’

“‘Lord Derby received a report drawn up by Mr. Mayers, Chinese Secretary of the Legation at Pekin, upon the distress which the drought of the last two years has caused in the northern and central provinces of China. This famine, it seems, has been most severely felt in the district furthest from the coast. With the exception of Chefoo, and, in a lesser degree, Tien-tsin, no foreign settlement has come directly into contact with the misery which has been described as existing in the interior, nor are any immediate traces of it visible in the neighbourhood of the capital. The apparent cause was disturbance in the usually unfailing regularity of the summer monsoons. The spring and summer of 1876 were marked in the southern maritime provinces, Kwangtung and Fuhkien, and in a less degree also along the coast as far north as Ningpo, by an excessive rain-fall, causing in the two provinces above-named disastrous floods and much destruction of crops. In the north, on the contrary, from the Yangtsze to the neighbourhood of Pekin and thence eastward to the borders of Corea, an unusual drought was experienced.’—Times, 13th March 1878.

“Further papers on this famine were presented to Parliament, 2nd July 1878. The number of souls for whom relief is required is said to be between three and four millions. One point brought out is the enormous cost of transporting supplies to the province of Shansi, where a mountain range has to be crossed and a distance of some hundreds of miles to be traversed by carts. Mr. Mayers says the reported cost of transporting these supplies to Shansi would be about four taels per picul, or, say, £12 sterling per ton. Mr. Hugh Fraser sends from Pekin, 18th January, the translation of a memorial addressed to the throne by Yen King-Ming, ‘Special High Commissioner for the Superintendence of the Arrangements for Famine Relief in Shansi. The commissioner dwells upon the painful scenes he has witnessed at every stage of his journey, in the course of which his chair has continually been surrounded by crowds of the famine-stricken population imploring relief, to whom he has administered comfort in soothing words, assuring them of the Imperial sympathy. The roads are lined with corpses in such numbers as to distance all efforts for their interment, while women and children, starving and in rags, know not where to look for the means of keeping body and soul together. The memorialist, his heart wrung with despairing pity, cannot but ask, why has a calamity so awful as this been visited upon the people. He can only ascribe it to his own failure in the due discharge of his duty, and he feels that his short-coming admits of no excuse. In reply, the Grand Council has received a rescript expressing profound sympathy with the sufferings of the people as reported in this memorial, and directing that all that is possible for their relief be done, in consultation with the governor of the province.”

“Note.—The Empire of China has long been subject to the most serious famines; but of these we have found no details available.”

It is sad to know that famines will occur, as long as man exists on the earth at enmity with his Creator. The ground was cursed on man’s account, and therefore it is man’s duty to appease the anger of his offended God. As man was taught by the Lord God to plough, and to sow, to reap and to garner up for the winter; so is it incumbent on those who govern nations to exercise their benevolence and make provision of food in granaries and storehouses against the recurrence of famines.

In the olden times, there were constructed near corn-fields, in all the countries over which the descendants of Israel ruled, most noble, solid granaries in rocks, as well as aqueducts and canals throughout their dominions. In the present age not a single civilized nation is prepared for a calamity which is sure to visit every country under heaven, sooner or later.

Of all countries, India is the one where famines recur most frequently, as the following table attests.

“Famines in India have arisen from several different causes; but the most general cause has not been failure of the usual rains. Distress has also, however, been caused by hostile invasions; by swarms of rats and locusts; by storms and floods; and not unfrequently by the immigration of the starving people from distant distressed parts into districts otherwise well provided with food supplies; and occasionally by excessive exports of grain into famine-stricken districts; or by combinations of two or more of the above-named circumstances.”—Report 1878, p. 2, Mr. F. C. Danvers.

These stern facts prove that, in times of plenty, grain should be garnered in each district, and held in reserve till the time of famine, when, food being found at hand, the people would have no need to migrate into neighbouring provinces. The finest example set for the imitation of those who have the destiny of nations in their hands, is that precaution adopted by Joseph, when he expected the visitation of the seven years’ famine.

This memorable famine took place in the year B.C. 1708. But the land of Egypt had corn in her granaries—the Pyramids of our time; therefore none of the Egyptians died from starvation. Egypt even supplied food to other famine-stricken countries; for the Bible says, “the famine was over all the face of the earth; and all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn, because that the famine was so sore in all lands.”

In the year A.D. 1064 there was another seven years’ famine in Egypt, but the land was governed by a people ignorant of what the Pyramids were, and how their contents had once saved the world from a cruel death. The following account shows the consequences of their ignorance:—

“Egypt.^[86] For seven successive years the overflow of the Nile failed, and with it almost the entire subsistence of the country; while the rebels interrupted supplies of grain from the north. Two provinces were entirely depopulated; in another half the inhabitants perished; while in Cairo city (El-Káhireh) the people were reduced to the direst straits. Bread was sold for 14 dirhems to the loaf; and all provisions being exhausted, the worst horrors of famine followed. The wretched resorted to cannibalism, and organised bands kidnapped the unwary passenger in the desolate streets, principally by means of ropes furnished with hooks and let down from the latticed windows.

“In the year 1072 the famine reached its height. It was followed by a pestilence, and this again was succeeded by an invading army.”

And again in “1877, short rainfall and low Nile; great scarcity.”

These calamities have occurred hitherto, and so long as the world exists they will occur again. It therefore behoves all monarchs and governors to adopt measures similar to those employed by Joseph, the first Viceroy of Egypt; that, wherever and whenever the enemy may appear, every nation may be found so well provided against it as to escape its dire consequences.