1850.
Years of Famine at Shánghái.
116
In 1592, the sea rose, and Wáng Tán, a native of the place, col- lected many hundred corpses of those drowned, and buried them at his own cost; the taxes were remitted for the next year. In 1587, the drought and destitution were so great that the people devoured each other, and the officers issued orders and regulations to afford relief. The next year, the money used to buy horses for II. M. stud, and three lacs of taels (£90,000) were sent from the treasury at Nan- king, and the high officer Yáng Wankü was ordered to distribute them in the departments of Súchau and Sungkiáng; but this man was covetous and despised by all, a deceitful hypocrite, so that Táng Hientsú caused him to be dismissed from office. There was a flood that year, so that the inhabitants were destitute, and the emperor listened to the governor and judge, and disbursed the customs of Kiángsú, and the fines levied on the borders of Shantung, to relieve the wants of the poor.
The year 1589 was a bad year, so that the governor Yü Lih me- morialized the Throne, and part of the income from the land and froin the duties, and part of the arrears of former years and dues of that year, were remitted. The prefect Yü Kiun also exhorted the rich to give millet to make soup to feed the starving. In 1591, relief was given out, in consequence of the freshes. In 1608, the water rose so that governor Chau Kungkiáu laid the case before his majesty, and fifty thousand taels were distributed among the destitute, taken from the revenue of the two departments of Hwái-ngán and Yang- chau. The next year there was a dearth, and the same governor ordered the prefect Cháng Kiúteh to direct the district magistrates to see that vegetable soups were given to the starving inhabitants of the villages and hamlets, placing the management of the distribution in the hands of the gentry and elders, and "lovers of righteousness."
In 1624 (4th of Tieukí), there was a great flood and a year of want; Wa Hing, the sub-director of H. M. stud, a native of Hwá-ting, dis- tributed three thousand peculs of millet to the destitute of his native district. In 1629, a dearth occurred, and the prefect Fáng Yoh-kung took more than seven thousand peculs of rice from the storehouses of one Kú, which he gave away to the poor or sold at a cheap rate. In 1640, there was a severe famine, and a drought the next year, so that the price of grain was high; the küjin graduates Ho Káng and others furnished millet to the poor, and the magistrate Cháng Kwángyoh found on inquiry that many of the people had died in the winter by starvation. The prefect of Sungkiáng received orders to change the tax of rice for three tenths as much wheat as an equivalent.