The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1879-03-07
THE BRAZILIAN FAMINE.
The Narrowing Story of Dreadful Calamity.
= Half a Million People Carried Off bv


) matted forest fats Of. the Amuzon or the
Sneiss Mountains of Rio. 1t is a rolling
plain, ascending gradually from the sea.
coast and diversified everywhere with iso.
lated hills and mountains. There is forest
growth, but it is low and not thick, much
s-nore like our Northern woo1s than one is
apt to Imagine for tropical growth. In
THE Sertca the seasons are very sharply
divided. The rainy months proper extend
from January to juno or July; the remain
der of the year is dry, SO dry that the trees
shed their leaves and the grass is all with>
cred. People can only obtain water by dig
ging for it in the dry beds of streams, for
there are no perennial rivers in the Sertao.
1t sometimes happens that the winter
months remain dry like the others-a terri
bic calamity for the poorer people, because
they depend for Lying on the products of
their little plantations, and the crops can
only be raised during the rains.
A POVERTY STRICKEN POPULATION.
In this part of Brazil there are no manu-
facturcs whatever, very few mines, no fish
cries of Importance, no forest industries
The community is extremely agricultural aud
pastoral. There are immense herds of CATTLE
considerable plantations of sugar, cotton,
&c. and tho noorer people nlant mondiocn
aud corn, using the land of their richer
ncighbors, for whom they do a little work
occasionally. Whether it be for the pastur-
age of cattle or the growth of crops the
whole community depends on tho soil, and
hence on the fertilizing RAINS Of winter
If the rains do not come the people starve
Again, the population has to suffer terribly,
because it has no help in itself. OF the
$500 900 nominal inhabitants of the Ser.
. toa not 100 900 are rich men or even reo.
sonably we'll off, The vast majority are an
Arab.lik race. produced by the intermiy.
t,ire of the blacks. whites and Indians
Ylnsople who have no propertv and never
try to rise above their normal condition.
sSsProny3ab bIv.xhissf.the most depraded class
. 2itS RSd8t :;inimbraly .iyaeraut and abomina.
bly, fIthy. hard " wasbiu. Aey EsSaf,ufnr6ss
iifffrS6fs via azxS 56dzE TIC 6{ hess
people live in palm -thatchcd huts the wo
men do most of the farm work; the men
gain few dollars MS herdsmen or by hir.
ing themselves out for day occasionally.
The upper classes on the contrary, will COM
pare tavoraby with any in Brazil. Most
of them are pure whites they are intcli-
gent, brave, domcstic-iar ahead, in fact,
Of the Rio or San Paulo Brazilians. This
mixed population was distributed through
the Scrtao, much as the people are in our
Western communities. There arc numcr.
Gus villages and hamlcts, Joined together
pJ toieraoic roaoS, naruiy any rallroaos, ana
Us rs :a'o ,m'.n'a'eu, "u n'vlsao'e iiyrrs' :
ah -" ~ ,h 'b"' ~ o;o sI's' h 40 !" oHP.i"'
a.,. tnuon " S%I Tt, Sn, D'oan' on Ny :nc
Snn a';I.s =, u;Ih "o s.a 10 " Jt'P M.''ss
D.ooi ,.hn p;.o s,'.Is sa aie .ion' vi.
""nyt" % ,La g. '"a"a,a T."'a;a "'o's '"o 'o's'
W "o", -, ~ s"o " ."on'o oc
s"",nS s"u," .''S s"t ~ uCuiSa."S W;an ~
oo"'" ~ o",,""l %"t',;.,c ~ -rrn'' m, uo''Is'
eIos1 ais -" o'e 's't.uuo eu. E - o t"e utouSn.
~, ua,. ""' .o,v "'' o'. -, '"1S H: .,"o'' "u,
T'or" Th;. pso";oo ""' ~ . ~" L; ;ah wv ."ol VI
,,,,;omo ana dGnI " "n'o" ny oos.'.
,LS ' W;,ma I'V c,o,n to IoGc "DHe' :. 20 "sc d,
"no GOO ;.hnt;.., - n.I;sI I ~ ,4 oo,'"rneo -.o
EO0 O'on ,,u ", aa rn"ns ~ ""'.n .h "s 'o"'. 'oo
'nn h., .;.. nv ~, p0J, poopio
con,a;nnJ onIu ono nort nf ;n,or,o,.a ,o,'";u ".
oon;,"i Th;S i ;ja,,.' f;s u' ",p,' ~, ':noo' 1 n'
thp n,,ns &c Tor,aioaa ~ T:,ra ~ Wv" Nv on