The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1878-07-27
The Famine in China.

Every reader of the newspapers is aware that
a terrible famine has been raging for some time
in the north of China. The people of Christian
countries have not understood the magnitude Of
the terrible calamity, for no systematic effort has
been made for its alienation. We are sure that
adequate succor would be sent to the starving
people if the truth IN its fullness were known
The following will be read with sorrowful int
rest. We copy from the Missionary Herald for
July, from the reports Of those on the ground,
who know whereof they write.
Mr.. Blodget, writing from Picking, March %,
says:
For ten years the lands of this people have
been in great part flooded, and now drought con-
sumes the grain Just as it starts from the ground
in the parts not flooded by water. Poor people !!
They are struggling for life. They live on the
coarsest fare, and dig up roots from the earth for
food, which in ordinary years are never used.
These people, however, are we'll conditioned
in comparison with those farther south. As L
came out of an inn, starting to return to Peking,
| observed a company of refugees, evidently of
the better class of the people. They had fled
from their homes to save their lives. One lad of
seventeen years, an only son, had left behind a
widowed mother. lie was a student, and L
offered him Il place in my school until the distress
SHONAN hO'N pussy ~ ~AAiOhhNA NM ANt VI So
teen wanted to come, and his father at once gave
his consent. He also was a student. So, not
outstanding all that is said in China about
digging out the eyes and cutting out the hearts
of the children [by missionariesl, l brought
these two lads to Picking with me in my cart, and
by the kindness of friends in America, who sup
ply the funds, they are now in a Christian
school. May God bless them, and those also
who support them
The famine is making fearful ravages in
Shansi. Five millions is a low estimate of the
number of those who have persisted, and the
death rate cannot lessen for months to come.
What with Shantung, Chill, Shensi, and kansuh,
the destruction of human life is appalling
NEARLY $50, 900 have been received for the
relief of those suffering by famine. True, it is
but a drop in the bucket yet it shows that there
are hearts that feel for these distresses. Reliefis
given in Shantung, in Chill, and in Shansi. Our
own mission is engaged, with other missions, in
this work. In a letter received last evening from
Mr.. Richard, in Shansi, he writes The names
of 5000 are down at present (for relief. The
rule IS 420 cash to each person. The distribu-
tiOn is once for all The sum mentioned, 420
cash, as silver now sells in Shansi, can hardly be
more than 60 cents.
- In other places the plan is adopted of a daily
rate, say one cent and a half per day to each
adult.
" As the season advances, numbers of refugees
from famine are f1ocking to Picking. No rain
falls. The wheat crop comes in during the latter
part of June, and unless there is rain soon this
must perish"
Mr.. Stanley, of Tientsin, under date of Feb.
%, states:
Those under fifteen years of age we reckon as
children, and give daily to such eight cash to
adults, fifteen cash. (Ten or eleven cash equal
one cent.) I-gave out the first cash lin this vii
lage) on the l1th, and worked up one village a
day; Here we give five days cash at a time,-
to the more distant villages ten days.
"Relief is now being given in seven villages,
in 10 families, to 233 adults and ga children
327 persons. These were not all taken on at
once, but gradually. | cannot add many more
till | hear whether more funds are at my dis
posal.
Ito be of permanent benefit, this work must
be carried on till the end of May or into June
till the earth produces. Many villages-the Chi
nese say more than half in the Teh Che district
are one third or one half deserted, even the
in their mud houses being all taken out
and sold for fuel before the poor people went out
to beg-to live if they could, and starve if they
Many of them will never return"
Mr.. Porter wrote from Tientsin March IL
g 1t is heart-rending to see what we sec, to
hear what we hear, and to know of the sadder
.hings which are beyond our reach. 1t is SAID
in Shansi two millions of people have per-
shed,-a fifth of the distressed portion of the
population. 1t is the current report that in that
province it is now dangerous for a man to travel
Ilone. Hungry men would attach such an one, and
their own lives by taking his. ] suppose We
must believe that such instances have occurred
he foundation for these horrid reports. Mr..
3orrodale, of the London Society. returned on
Wednesday from his country district. He has
elieved, as best he could, l 800 families. Mr..
;tanley's messenger tells me that the people are
ating chaff, corn-stalks, elm-leaves, and rushes
from the river bottoms, for which they
ay almost as much as for -four and millet in good