Civilian & telegraph. [volume] (Cumberland, Md.) 1859-1875, 1861-04-25
Terrible Famine In India.

February 2lst, says lin the nelghhor-
hood of the city food is distributed every
morning to large number of beggars,
from whom there is imperatively rcqui-
red this qualification. that they are to be
blind, or lame. Or decrepid, or reduced
10y famine to such degree of weakness
that labor is impossible. The food
bread aud -porridge, cooked in de-
ference to their prejudices, by Brahmins
or Mahomedans- distributed in the
presence of one or two of the European
residents, who undertake the task in
turn; and by insisting somewhat rigor-
ousy on the principle of exclusion just
mentioned, it has hitherto been contrived
to relieve all who strictly come within
the prescribed category who present
themselves. Certainly, if the object of
the contrivance had been to collect to-
gether the most appalling and heart sick
eLing exhibition of human misery pos
sible, no triumph could be more COM
plete.
| Very many are blind. aud affliction
very common here, aud which is attrib
utable, as imagine, to the intense glare
of the sun, whose power exceeds that
which he displays in more northerIy lat
itudes in light as much as it does i'll heat.
Then there are cripples, dsfgured by
every accident that bone is heir to, and
every distortion rcconcilable with animal
life; lepers in every stage of their NAL
ady; children in arms, changed by the
want of their proper nutriment or posi-
bly, by the starvation of their mother,
previous to their birth, into miniature
old men, with sharp ana grotesque fca-
lures, restless and piercing eyes, and
that peculiar expression of experienced
wordliness which is sometimes seen in
the countenances of the monkey tribe,
and in very aged aud crafty nisers.
Children are sometimes brought in an
advanced stage of small pox Among
those who are necessarily excluded there
are. of course, some so nearly approach
ing the required standard OF feeblcncss
as to be almost admitted; and in very
many, and especially the old, the pro-
longed famine has so reduced their flesh,
or rather consumed it. that their limbs
are literally scarcely anything but bone
You could almost span a mans thigh
with finger and thumb; and when, as
happens occasionally, their rags fall off
them in the crush, you detect the struc-
ture of the bones, developed to an ex-
tent which should never have thought
compatible with life, and that perpcndi
cuar fall of the thigh bones from their
articulation in the pelvs. which is the
most striking feature in the skeleton.
They are i'll fact, living skeletons; and
not always that. One day, man who
had succeeded in reaching the enclosure,
and obtaining admittancc, sat down with
the rest, ate his food, then retired little
way apart. and lay down aad died. ~
mother day the members Of t,e commit
tee leaving the garden after the distti-
button found two corpses laid at the
gate. They had been on their way, but
their strength failed them just before
they reached the goal Not unfrcquent-
ly they begin to sink after entering the
ground, and cannot be reused to take
food, except by stimulant, in the form
of little brandy or rum; which, how
ever has the desired effect.
One day man was observed Juggling
along with him u moderate sized parcel,
which, on reaching the feeding place, he
laid carefully on the ground, and cover.
ed up in ragged garment. 1t proved
to be-hs mother The old woman,
who had become almost inscnsible, had
doubled up her limbs as children will on
cold nights, when they 20 to sleep, aud
her weight being exactly that of her
bones, was easily carried by toerably
young man They had come from Delhi,
where things are far worse than they arc
here, and people wander shreking
through the streets till they die. In
this cast however, the administration of
dose of rum had the desired effect, and
the poor old creature was snatched from
the Jaws of death in time to take her
food and live-for another cay. The
number of persons relieved has iDcrea-
sed at Agra from 600 to 200 Or | 400
daily.
For people who are too proud to 90
aud work on the roads or receive a dole
of bread at public Office nothing has
been done. 1t is believed that many re-
spectacle women who cannot work, and
are ashamed to beg, have shut themsel-
yes in their houses, and quietly starved
in the bosom of their families.