The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-09-20
THE GREAT FAMINE IN INDIA
Appalling scenes.


Calcutta Correspondence (July 3ll London TyD,es
started from Midnapore. a civil station.
ABOUT seventy miles southwest Of the capital on
thc nOrnlng of the 10th OF June and had hardly
proceeoed some seven miles when commenced
sty painful slghts winch, varying only IN inten-
Shy, sieS, continued until again returned TO this
place; Bain had fallen heavily during the night
ana the palki men were trudginp slowly through
. .ne lnu1, when little after daybreak, saw
Two bodies under q tree AS there seemed To
be slight motion in one aHphted. and on
going up TO 1t found, covered under an oil cloth
with Just spark of life lett in him, an old man
slowly dying from hunger. He appeared ss If
ne mad thin piece of transparent india-rubber
ughtly drawn over his skeleton frame so ema-
ciated had he become. l gave him some beer
and he slowly ialtered out his tale of woe
lie said that he and his companion had left
their homes, after seeing their family die from
the effects OF cholera or famine, and had got
thus 1ar on their journey towards Mdnapore,
hoping to get relief there, when one, struck by
damp and hunger, dies on the road under tree,
and the other wakes to find his friend a corpse,
and himself exhausted and drenched by the
heavy rains that had fallen during the night,
unable to move. The dogs and ackals feast of
the BODY, while this living skeleton but a few
PAGES off is poweress 10 prevent them. He
taintly begs from the passers-by, but 10 vain.
Hunger Is gnawing their vitals also. 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 fad the poor sufferer in
state of coma, and IN few minutes he was
uedu. Inc 0al-plCkeu DOOy OF ms companion
attested his tale. | continued my journey, pass
ing at intervals the dead as they lay unburied
ana IN every stage OF decomposition on the side
OF the road.
Sometimes l would see a cluster together In
one place there were twenty-five bodies within
the space OF half mile; in another six, close
together; all more or less mangled and torn by
jackals, dogs, and vultures. Pushing my way
through the jungle and over paddy fields, often
obliged to swim sundry streams swollen by the
late floods, in one of which my palki was upset,
traversed 120 miles of country when reached
the house of a Mr.. Falls, an assistant in Messrs
Watson & Co.'s indigo concern here. That gen.
tleman informed me that 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 TIC hit that in bending 1t back, stitf and
cold, 1t broke. They say that the living and the
dead had been thus linked together for two days;
at any rate, the poor little infant, exhausted by
exposure and want died as it was being released.
The above gentleman and myself were travel
ling through dense jungle. Miles away from
any human habitation, we perceived a famishe d
native oi the Sonthal tribe, lying on the ground
he bad thrown himself down to meet certain
death; but little brandy rekindles the vital
spark, and, 10th to leave him to be a prey for
the jackal and leopard, we have HIM placed on
the roof OF palki. The palki-bearers, however,
refused to bulge an inch, saying that their case
would be gone " SndUaer m n.odo" is tried,
but mo go;" "tOTttter an re" then came into
play. They murmured, looked at the palki,
asked for bottle of grog, and then trudged
along with their tipsy burden. The brandy had
been too strong for him. l am glad to add that
in twenty-tour hours after this the burden was
walking about. The misery entailed by the
famine has brought out all the worst quail
ties of the lower class of natives. As a
rule, affectionate and fond of their homes,
they have ia too many instances fled, leav.
ing their wives and families to starve but,
as an eyewitness in two cases where
nobler feelings held their sway, I here
record them:-A woman, with her three young
children, crawls into a planters house just
as luncheon was being carried from the table;
she begs for the remains of the curry and rice,
and placed before her. Without attempting
to eat she quietly seats the three children
round the dish, who in a few minutes demolish
its contents. and although the mother is
wasted TO a skeleton, yet mumbliDg her thanks,
she turns away grateful that her offspring
have Deen fed, even while she herself
still hungereth. In another village wo met 8
little girl and her mother, lying under a mango
tree. Both were faint from hunger; they
had been trying to keep life together by feed
ing on enails picked out OF ponds, berries, anC
lizards, where they could obtain them, bu
daily feeling weaker, they hadlsunk down unde
tree, awaiting lingering death. We got SOM
boiled rice and put 1t before them. The younge
is the stronger; the mother is too weak to rails
herself. Although the child's big eyes fashet
with a hungry CLEAN, yet her little hands, wei
filed, first seek the mothers mouth, and no
until half the rice is thus gone does she hersel
eat. II Is impossible to judge of the number
that have died from actual want, as no return
are kept; but taking the three districts of Bala
sore Cuttack and Midnapore, should say quit
1900 day. In BalasoTe large plague pits hav
had to be dug near the towns to receive th
bodies of those found dead near their precincts
but in too many instances the bodies are left t
rot on the roadside.