. . . The districts of Ch?tre and Argenton, especially, will
be reduced to starvation unless they are promptly relieved. . . .
The cultivation of the ground is abandoned; most of the persons in the
jurisdiction wander about the neighboring departments in search of
food." - And it is doubtful whether they find it. In the department
of Cher, "the butchers can no longer slaughter; the dealers' stores
are all empty." In Allier, "the slaughterhouses and markets are
deserted, every species of vegetable and aliment having disappeared;
the inns are closed." In one of the Loz?re districts, composed of five
cantons, of which one produces an extra quantity of rye, the people
live on requisitions imposed on Gard and the Upper Loire; the
extortions of the representatives in these two departments "were
distributed among the municipalities, and by these to the most
indigent: many entire families, many of the poor and even of the rich,
suffered for want of bread during six or eight days, and this
frequently."[57] Nevertheless they do not riot; they merely supplicate
and stretch forth their hands "with tears in their eyes. " - Such is
the diet and submission of the stomach in the provinces.
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