New Orleans daily crescent., 1866-09-26
Sqto Orleans 9ailp GresteIt,
WEDNESDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 2e, 1865,
The ereat Famlne IN Tnala-Appanlnr seene.
toalcatta Correspondence @ Ja-y 81 London Times

F il.
Calcutta Correspondence Juy 81 London Tmes.l
I Istarted from Mdnapore, a'civil station about
seventy miles southwest Of the capital, on the
morning of the 26th Of June, and had hardly pro-
ceeded some seven miles when commenced the
painful sights which, varying only in intensity,
continued until i again returned to this place.
Rain had fallen heavily during the night and the
palki men, were trudging slowly through the mud,
When a little after daybreak, Lsaw two bodies
under q tree. sAs there seemed to be slight mo
ton in one aighted and on going up TO it found,
covered under an old cloth, with Just spark Of
life'leftf him, an old man slowly dying from hun
ger He appeared 2 as il, he had q thin piece Of
transparent India rubber tightly drawn over his
skeleton frame, SO ernacated had he become.
| gave him some beer, and he slowly fatered
out hls tale Of woe. He said that he and his com
panlqn had left their homes, after seeing their
family die from the effects Of cholera or famine,
andhad got thus far on their Journey towards Mid
napofe, hoping to get relief there, When one
struck BY damp and hunger, dies on the road un
der 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,
unabletO moves J. rssHa u % ruF '
The dogs and jackalsl feast of the body, while
this Lying skeleton huta few paces,of is power
less-te prevent them He family begs from the
pas5ers.by, but In vain. Hunger Is gnawing their
xitaIS also They all turn q deaf ear to his cry.
The beer seemed to revive him. and Event to my
palki to get some biscuits, but returned to find
Tue poor sufferer in state Of coma, and in few
his companion attested his fate. | continued my
Journey, passing atinteryals the dead, as they lay
unbpried and in every stage of decomposition on
the side of the road, Sometimes ! would see
cluster together, In one place there were twenty
two bodies in the space of half mile; in another
six, close together; all more or less mangledand
torn by iackals, dogs and vutures. .a-
Pushing my way through the jungle and over
paddy fields, traversed 100 miles of country,
when reached the house Of a 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
returnedIsayng that they had found the corpse and
the child, but the mothers arm elasped the latter
so tight that in bending It back, stiff and cold, it
broke They say that the living and the dead had
thus been linked together f9r- two days; at any
rate, the poor little infabt, exhaustedby exposure
and want, died as it was being released.
The misery entaiied by the famine has brought
out all the worst qualities of the lower class of ma
tiyes. AS a rule, affectonate and fond Of theil
homes, they have in too many instances fed leay
ing their wives and families TO starYe. 3
It is impossible to judge of the numbers tina
have died from actual wanr, as no retnrnsar
kept but, taking the three districts Of Balasore
Cuttack and Midnapofe, L should say qaite 1900 {
day. In Balasore, large plague pits have had tt
be dag near thett6wnsi to receive the bodies o
those found dead near their precincts, but, in TOT
many instances, the bodies are left to rot on tn
roadside. ~.