The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1866-10-11
Great Famine in India.

Appoftiag Scenes. a great famine has
been prevailing in India for some months.
A Calcutta correspondent of the London
Times, under date of July 31st, gives the
following account of the appalling scenes
witnessed by him:
[ started from Midnapore, civil station
about 70 miles southwest of the capital,
on the morning of the Goth of June, and
had hardly proceeded some seven miles,
when commenced the painful sights which,
varying only in intensity, continued un-
til L again returned to this place Rain
had fallen heavily during the night, and
the palki men were trudging slowely
through the mud, when, little after day
break, l saw two bodies under a tree
AS there seemed to be slight motion in
one, L alighted, and on going up to it
found, covered under an old cloth, with
just a spark of life left in him, an old man
slowly dying from hunger He appeared
as if he had a thin piece of transparent
India rubber tightly drawn over his skel-
ton frame, SO emaciated had he become.
gave him some beer, and he slowly
faltered out his tale of woe. He said that
nO duu lIdu lclI JllelE IS,
after seeing their family die from the ef-
fects of cholera or famine and had got
thus far on their journey towards Midna-
pore, hoping to get relief there, when one,
struck by damp and hunger, dies on the
road under atree, ,and the other wakes to find
his frienda corpse, and himself, exhausted
and drenched by the heavy rains that had
fallen during the night, unable to move
The dogs and jackals feast off the body,
while this living skeleton but a few PAGES
off is powerless to prevent them. He
family begs from the passers-by, but in
vain. Hunger is gnawing their vitals al
so. They all turn deaf ear to his cry.
The beer seemed to revive him, and [
went to my palki to get some biscuits, but
returned to find the poor sufferer in a
state of coma, and in few minutes he
was dead. The half picked body of his
companion attested his tale. continued
my journey, passing at intervals the dead
as they lay unburied and in every stage
of decomposition on the side of the road.
Sometimes would see cluster together.
In one place there were % bodies within
the space of half mile; in another six,
close together, all more or less manged
and torn by jackals, dogs and vultures.
Pushing my way through the jungle
and over paddy-felds, l traversed 120
miles of country, when 1 reached the
house of Mr.. Falls. That gentleman
informed me that a woman had died by
the roadside, and that living child was
said to be at her breast. He sent out his
servants, who returned saying that they
had found the corpse and the child, but
the mothers arm clasped the latter SO
tight, that in bending it back, stiff and
cold, it broke. They say that the living
and the dead had been thus linked to-
gether for two days; at any rate, the poor
little infant, exhausted by exposure and
want, died as it was being released.
The misery entailed by the famine has
brought out all the worst qualities of the
lower class of natives. AS a rule, affec
tionate and fond of their homes, they
have in too many instances fed, leaving
their wives and families to starve.
1t isimpossible to judge of the number.
that have died from actual want, as no re
turns are kept; but, taking the three dis
tricts of Balasore, Cuttack aud Midna
pore, / should say quite 1900 day. II
Balasore, large, plague pits have had t
be dug near the towns, to receive the bod
les of those found dead near the precincts
but in too many instances, the bodies art
lett to rot on the roadside