The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-11-18
a Doomed People.
THE GREATER PART MUST DIE.

l'"I,lCdi'tio VI tue SICtG 13lEluc i'll
India:
A Calcutta paper of August 10th
says that 10000 paupers from the
famine-stricl1en region have inun-
dated Calcutta, and the arrivals are
reckoned at 200'a day We have, on
the highest authority, Il frightful
picture Of the prevailing destitution,
especially in Calcutta. 1t would be
difficult to eXaggcrate the magnitude
and extent of the calamity. All the
accounts l have seen have under rated
it.
1t is difficult to obtain reliable
statistics as to the mortality from
famine, and cholera occasioned by it;
but all that | have seen and heard
has convinc ced ne that it has been on
a scale of frightful magnitude There
are still four long dark months before
us; though for q month past there
has seemed some slight abatement iii
the distress in the four districts of
Batazor, Mcdnapore, Sarum, and
Ilrahout Over 40, 600 non -laboring
paupers were being daily relieved in
the latter part OF July; besides 1000
who We're able to make some return
for food by working.
A week later we find 81. 900 daily
relieved in Batazorc and NIidnapore
alone: while Poorc and Nudda add
IL, 900 more to the sad list
Itis believed that in CattacI1 the ma
iority of the people must die before
relief can reach them; while 1000
persons a day wcrc perishing at the
single station of Batazore \ vessel,
the Tubal Cain, which was bringing
them food, was driven off by storm,
and compelled to throw overheard
1,000 bags Of rice.
But this is not al, and possibly not
the worst. The new crop Of rice will
soon be obtained, but it is likely to
add new source of damage. For,
lacking other food, the poor people
will devour it m its unmatured and
uhwholcsome state, aud u dreadful
pestilence will probably thus be pro-
duced.
Until the land can be covered with
network of railroads and canals,
there seems no escape from the fire.
quent repetition OF such calanities,
and that day is far distant.
Another account says: When the
famine WAS at its height, the starving
poor, we are told, crowded into the
streets OF Calcutta; and it was
estimated that 10 fewer than 10000
to %, 600 starving people were wan
dering about the capital.
At Mullick Chat, where tho Bonn
bay merchants raised {; fund and dis
tributed food, there We're at one time
1000 furnishing applicants crowded
up. They were described as placed
IN order upon an open space, waiting
for the distribution. On one side
nearly 1000 Hindoos, each with
leaf platter before him, were scattered
on the wet ground, hastily partaking
of the scant dole they received. On
the other side were thousands of
famishing Musselmen, ranged in like
manner. and watching with silent and
greedy eagerness the meal of their
Hindoo brethren, and counting with
bitter longlngs the minutes till their
time should come.
Under the shelter of the Chat,
crowded women: and girls and cEil-
dren, and outside the gates were hun
dreds and hundreds who had lost
their chance till the next distribution.
Over all q horrible dead silence reign
ed. There We're no chattering or
conversation; hardly sound, except
ing when at intervals some wretch
threw up his arms with an ejaculation
to heaven, wrung from him by the
unappeasable pangs of hunger.
More than this, officials wrote home
descriptions Of meeting dead bodies
in every mornings ride, bodies living
in the road, with the village dogs
eating them at leisure.
a Calcutta journal stated that in
Batazore. having population of H.
600, the deaths amounted to 300 q
day, and on the Government demand
ing of officials 4 report against the
libel, ne collector of the district
replied, that on the Sth of August
he had 245 deaths'i in the city, and on
the 9th, 151, and for the week ending
the 9th, 126 q day, the bodies some
times remaining unburied for three
days.
1hc province Of Orisa suffered the
most severely, one paper declaring
that 400, 600 souls have persisted in
maratime Orisa alone. Indeed, u
telegram from India announces that
half the population of Orisa have
perished i'll the famine; that is fully
$500, 900 people