The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1866-11-29
incidents OF Ihe Famine in India

incidents OF the Famine In India
Much mas been said OF the distress
ing scenes witnessed in India during
the recent famine, but we have seen
no narrative more touching than the
following, which We copy from al
English magazine
Ii is IN Orissa. CANAAN and Midna-
pore that the distress wrought by the
famine is felt in all its intensity. In
these districts it is supposed that the
death rate has been thousacd day
for many months but th9pumber OF
those who have thus miserably per ,
ished by hunger and disease will nov
err be accurately ascertained. Vast
numbers have fed from the districts
some to sleep an eternal sleep by the
roadsdes, where their unburied bones
lie bleaching in the scorching sum /.
mute witnesses to the blessings OF
English rule-and others to arrive ip
Calcutta, so emaciated that they ap-v
pear as If their skeleton frames were
covered with thin, transparent india
rubber :
In the City of Palaces andother
towns where they have sought refuge,
il is calculated that seventy-fve thou
sand are daily fed by public charity,
and at least double that number, or
one hundred and fifty thousand by
private charity.
To see one of these immense crowds
when the daily distribution of rice
takes place, is . most heart-rendingN
spectacle of utter Indebtedness. In
one quarter are thousands of Hindoos,
in another, thousands os Mussulmans,
and at little distance, sheltered by
the ghaut, are the women, girls and
children. You can scan the faces OF
the assembled thousands and see in {.
every one ofthem the same expression
the pinched, despairing, yet resigned
look of mortal weakness, or of mortal
sickness, which the sight of food sud !
denly changes into a hungry, longing,
devouring look-the kind of look |,
which inspires feelings Of pity forevenk
a. starving wild animal; but wlHe
when worn by the human countenances
is indescribably painful to beholds
Over all is the silence of death; no
loud and noisy laughter, as would be
the case at other times hardly sound
save at intervals when some famished
wretch throws up his arms and uttersY
a cry of wild despair, wrung from him
by the gnawing, unappeasable pangs
of hunger. At other places fearful
struggles to get possession OF the
food take place, andsmany lives.are
lost in the sickening Scramble.
The picture would not be complete
did l not add that many of tie Zen
who receive this relief have flece I'm
their wives and families, leaving them
to the fate which they themselves have
escaped. Thus has the misery wrought I
by the famine stamped out the love Of
and of home-conspicuous
features in the character of the people
of India, and mosA especially 60
Hind Dos. OF the women thus desert
ed by their natural protectors, plany
stories are told by aye-wit
nesses. For example: A plaEter was
informed that woman had died by
the roadside, and that, q living child
was at her breast. He sent out his
servants, who found the corpse, and
the child so tightly clasped in the
arms, that in bending it back,
stiff and cold, it broke. The poor lit
tie infant, exhausted by exposure and
want, died as it was being released,
Another case: A woman, with her
three children, crawled up to a plan
ter's house just as tiffin was being
cleared away; the remains of the cur
ry and rice were carried out in the
and placed before her. With
out attempting to eat, she seated the
three children round the dish, who
speedily devoured its contents; and,
the mother was wasted to Il
skeleton, mumbling her thanks, she
turned away, grateful that her off
spring had been fed, even while she
herself still hungered. Here is yet
mother instance, still more wonder
fully touching in its forgetfulness of
self; A little girl and her mother were
seen lying under mango tree. Both
we're faint from hunger; they had been
5rying to keep life together by feeding
On snails, berries and lizards; but
growing weaker day by day, they at
asst sunk down under this tree to await
4 lingering DEATH Some boiled rice
was placed before them. The mother
was too weak to raise herself, so, al
.hough "the child's big eyes flashed
with hungry gleam," her little hands,
we'll filed, first sought the mothers
mouth, and not until half the rice was
hus consumed did she herself eat.
Until nnite latelr the only kinds OF