Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1851-10-24
The Plague in the Canary Hands.

correspondent of the ": o. Picayuae
gives the following graphic account Of the
plague at the Canry Islands 1t is feared
that the negro traders will bring it to Havana
he year 1851 opened under the most fl
yorlbe auspices for the Canary islands, their
increase III commerce and population beng
wcl-known. The line ats also llou"ishel.-
But the destiny whch for a mOman, seemed to
rest from the pers ncution Of these Islands
which had dated from the time when they took
the name of the Untortunntc" again tell up
on them with more fury than ever Before It's
anathena, commerce was paral yZei, tn" thea
ters were closed, cOnSternl ton seized every
.nInd, the inhabitints hid themselves, or rctir-
ed to the country, and soon stupor sadness,
and almost despair, replaced the hours Of lie
lclty OF those once happy people.
On the 9th of June, ISL. the official Jour
MI OF the province contained the following ::
The Board of lie nth of the District Of Las
Pamas, III the Canlrles, has informed thn Su-
! perior of the Province, under date Of the 9TH
INST, TINT IN the barrio Of SIN lose. in the CITY
Of the same name. some cases OF epidemic
cholera norbus have appeared" In consc-
qu'nce of tins, precautionary measures We're
ordered to be taken.
For some months this inirnity had been
| prevailing in the city Of Lls Paluns. display
| lng itself in isolated cases. The faculty..
| through ignorance or malice cllsscd it as ma
! Tnant quincy. But the authorities ascertain
my that many persons were dying, that the
sick survived but Il short time, and tint the
cOrpses showed black spots and were horribly
dlsigured, ordered the Board of Health of the
Island, under the rlctcst responsibility, to de-
clare the nature of the epidemic. Then, with
general terror, the announcement we have al.
ludcd to was received.
History does not record ANYTHING so sad as
the spectacle winch the Island of Grand Ca
nary. has presented, and still presents The
bcst-dreCted pen attempts IN vain to relate
such misiortunes and horrors, and words would
not be sufficient to depict their intensity.
The epidemic now ragged with such fury
that the inhabitants in CONSERVATION abandoned
/ the town, without caring for anything but their
persons to such an extent that they even for
/ rot the ties Of blood Death surprised them
III the midst Of their flight. 30 that the rolds
were covered with corpses. over which not Il
tear of friendship or of lilial or fratcrnal love
was shed because terror had smothereA cv-
cry sentiment except that of self preservation.
As was to be expected, the fugilives, carry
ing with them the fatal germ, infected the
country, which became the thcater Of the
]
The beasts, abandoned in the city, per
shel for want of food and the decomposl-
tlon Of their bodies, together with that Of the
human co.pses which remlined unburied in
the streets, vltiatcd the atmosphere to such
an extent that any untortunlta person who
might return to the city fell dead almost as
soon as ne entered a house. However, this
new c0nhttemps was stopped as soon As pos
Slbe by the energetic measures taken by the
worthy Military Governor. and by the hui
manty Of the second Alcalde Of the Corre-
gidor, and various young men, many Of whom
fell victims to their heroisn.
AT last the supposltlon was confirmed that
the epidemic was not the cholera, but the
terrible plague Of the Moors, it having been
ascertaned that it WIS introduced into the
island of Grand Canary by the fishing YES
sells which frequent the western coast of AZ
RIGA. The persons in the island devoted to
this trafic, numbering about l,S00 men, have
almost all persisted, as there remain on
enough to man a single vessels According
to the declaration of the masters of the 81
vessels, on all the western shores of Airicf
there reigns deathly pest which carries of
the inhabitants. the mortality being so grea
that the corpses are strewn upon the earth ii
Incredible numbers, and their decomposition
augments the influence of the corrupted az
mosphere.
A. eoon as the Commandant General Of the
Province learned The abandonment of the cit,
OF Las Palmas, he sent portion of the CARR
ION It the capital 10 bury The dead, bat ih'
greater PORTION o; the soldiers were auackp'