, 1877-10-06
FAMINE IN CHINA.
4 sISKESING NARRATIVE OF SUFFERING
ASD DESTITUTION.

OhANShi, July "a iSPoie h"S cSSA-
received from DR.. Nevins, one of the mis-
who have been engaged In the
distribution of aims in Shantung, de-
scribing the measures adopted by himself
and his colleagues for the relief OF the SUI
ferers, and stating the present condition
and prospects of the district in which he
has been staying. Dr.. Nerins located
himself in the market town of kaoyal,
and having taken measures to ascertain
the most destitute people in the nelghbor-
hood, made arrangements for distributing
ten cash (about one half-penny) per diem
among them. At one time no less than
80 ,539 persons, residing in 383 neighbor-
ing towns and villages, were being thus
supported, and it is both surprising and
gratifying to learn what great good the
money effected He writes:
"The people, by three successive years
of scarcity, we're reduced to the last e1-
tremity. All their supplies were exhaust
ed, and everything that they could sell or
pawn was disposed of, so that they had
no means by which they could obtain
ready money to purchase grain. With a
few exceptions, they were subsIstlng on
the leaves of trees, roots and wild plants
from the hills also to considerable ex-
tent on cllatf, and, when they could get
them, sweet potato vines and leaves:
Nearly every face wore starved and
haggggard appearance, and many men were
reduced to mere skeletons. In not a few
cases they ate slate-stone to allay the
pangs of hunger. In these circumstances,
the allowance given, though it seems a
mere pittance, was received as a great
boon Invested in grain to mix with the
leaves and roots which they were subslst-
ing on, it supplied them food which was
comparatively palatable and nutritious
1t was nothing less than life to thousands,
who must soon have persisted without 1T.
Some, though almost starving, used the
money given them to purchase seed for
sowing their fields. There are hundreds
Of acres covered with rich crops which
without this aid would probably have re-
manned untitled. Many declared that
without it they would not have had
strength to 60 into the fields to work, and
without it many would not have been
able to redeem their hoes from the pawn
shops"
This, however, relates only to one dis
frict | have before me report from a
Roman missionary, Pere de March,, which
gives narrowing picture of the distress
still prevailing in the neighboring dis
trict of Lin Klu He writes:
Fancy vast tract of land, as it were,
devastated by brigand; fields uncultivat-
ed, either for want of hands or because
the famished peasants have not the nee
essary strength to bear the fatiSues of
husbandry and the houses destroyed in
order to sell the timber; in many houses
there remains only one room where the
wretched family shelter themselves from
the inclemency Of the weather. In the al
most deserted villages you see but ex-
hausted, cadaverous faces. How many
families have become totally extinct
through starvation; how many have gone
elsewhere, after having sold their all at
any price, without hope of return But
there is something worse. How many
fathers of families who once lived honor
ably have committed suicide in order to
avoid the ignominy of begging, all their
family following the dreadful example
How many woe stricken women-wives,
sisters, daughters-have been sold by
their fathers, brothers, and husbands to
unknown people, till in some places you
hardly see any females left AChrlstian
literate of this district assured me that in
the Lui Kui-hsien alone more than one
hundred thousand women and children
have been sold, which is shown by a reg
lister kept at the Yamen. In several
places of this district they were able to
SOW wheat, and it promises well, especial
ly after the last rain, but to the south
east, in the midst of the hills where | now
am, and where hardly any foreigner has
penetrated, the land looks like a wilder
ness there is neither wheat nor millet,
and if ever they SOW any late crop they
must wait till the Autumn for the har-
vest"
What drought did last year in the north
foods threaten to do this year in the
south. From Foochow, for the second
year in succession, We have accounts of
terrible damage and loss of life caused
by the overflow of the River Min the
neighborhood of Canton has been similar
ly visited and, as if this were not enough,
correspondent writes Chinkeang that
the ground in the neighborhood of that
city is black with locust, and that in the
neighborhood of Marking there is grave
apprehension of failure from drought.