The New York herald., 1879-02-14

4 AS'"6'SS A"~ >oAoAee"seo' 6O'eAAihcAe
sioner writes:-
As pen these lines am tormented, almost deaf
ened by cries imprecations. tears, groans OF people
driven wild and agonized by famine nakedness and
disease. thousand at time. they beg morsel for
the love of God for the divine pity. that they may
save for moment some child torn by hunger.
grave woman pushed about by the people. begs
TO save herself from the monster that devours
her to the child in her womb. Another cries
for broth for her husband, who is prostrated,
almost inaninlatc by that worst of diseases famine.
Another shows her bony body with hardly rags to
her naketness-a horrible sight. Another
begs help for her husband her son, her brother all
tie five Wounds Of Christi am falling. This one
says. senior, listen to me- who am dying with my
children" She cries, groans curses; but what
do? there are many; there are 80 many. alas!
Thousands who would have help at once. And how
shallI help them when have no resources? Eight
days ago the commission bought provisions and
arranged money the faith of the government.
which had promised resources. But these have not
come We can do nothing and the people are ours
ing us. ''They give only to their favortes.' the
crowd says. and then they cry hercely, You have
food for US !; give 1t at once!
BARBALHA Jan. l. 1873
We calculate that the deaths from hunger alone
reach twelve per day; many more die of disease. In
the cemetery they cannot bury the dead last enough
The other day the bodies OF three children awaiting
internent eaten by dogs. Property is longer
safe the people steal what they In the jail the
prisoners are starving.
LIVING SKELETONS RUSH TO THE COAST.
So might 60 endlessly. Alas. know how
real it was. The tears to my eyes
when read these piteous cries for help. Hunger.
pcstilence want-these were what Cear; had to fight
when the second great famine year broke upon her.
In January there fear, in February terror, in
March despair rains at all in some places little
useless showers at best. And comes the most
terrible scene of all There was more hope in the
Sertao. No food, and no possibility OF
obtaining it except along the shore.
Then the whole bewildercd, famine-strickcn,
panicwild crowd came rushing down to For
taleza and the coast cities. Without food for
the road naked, sick dying, even as they fed from
death-every man for himself. Children striving
vainly to keep mp with their parents. crying they
roll the stones, with bleeding feet and skeleton
bodies. walking. crawling along. begging where
one could givc-for how could support thou
sands. They were famished when they started.
Three, four, FIVE days they held their way. Then
they fell by the roadside and groaned and died Some
pityng hand. perhaps. threw handful of earth
Them but. for the most part each too busy with
his own safety to care for others. So our human
brothers died.
ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND PEOPLE PER,
IsHED.
Tho greatest mortality from hunger was probably
in March; from February to May l. when the exo
dus was taking place. can hardly calculate tho
number of famine deaths at less than one hundred
one hundred and nifty thousand died Of hunger.
should add that my calculations are much
lower than those Of other persons; some place
the entire number high three hundred
thousand. In Aracaty the death rate iuctuated be-
tween ninety and hundred and ten day; in
Fortaleza 1t less at this time, but eighty per day
was bad enough. have notices of ten, twenty or
more daily deaths in small villages; and everywhere
along the roadsides nameess crosses still tell the
story of uncatalogued victims. Dark tales of can
nibalism begin to appear. From letter written at
Quixeramobim translate follows:-
EATING CHILD. -
write in haste. Have time to transcrbe the
scenes of horror about 1t is enough to give you
as specimen namcless crime. A father. whose
nature overcome by hunger that he killed and
cooked in pot his little child, two years old. This
took place in California Ia eettlement near Quixada
The father died after his horrible feast have
three four similar Stories well authenticated
believe that these and other cases of cannibalism
were caused by insanity common result of hunger
Iquote also a letter from Jaguaribe-Mirim one Of
many that tell the story
This villagc is full OF abandoned children; the de-
spairng fathers would no longer sec them torn by
this monster hunger. This very day. while was
eating dinner my house was invaded by q crowd Of
these wrctched children, very skeletons, who could
hardly speak. Some OF them we're weak that they
would take only soup. obstinately refusing more
OF bodies. You can count the crosses by
hundreds. The other day. in an abandoned
house, there were found fve bodies OF refugees
four children and old woman. BY the bodies
there three strips of leather in the kettle
the ashes Of ap extnguished fire. dog. the faith
ful friend OF the family, was still watching them.
Near Lettrado three young girls and old man
fonnd'cating the hcsh Of dead horse which lay by
tPthc roadside This was q family from Laoras. Even
in the VILLAGES these poor wretches no longer ask for
mnndioca meal; they ask for cats and dogs to eat.
This Is exaggeration. One sbopkeeper told me Of
refugee who asked permission to kill the rats about
his plnce.) Three days ago made journey Of six
leagues by the road from leo and what in.
descrbabe. found eleven dead bodies by the road
side and at least forty who dying. Happily
there is pestience here the deaths are from hun
ger
vARzEA ALEaIE, Feb o. 1873.
We pray God that He will give pasturage TO our few
horses so that we Inny not be forced to fly foot
with our families. Many have died of hunger; many
still dying The wild roots are all gone. You
can imagine what the drought is here when tell you
that the sister Of the Baron OF Aquivaz is eating
Now il this lady. sister of a man who before the
drought of the richest In the province 60
ing to the woods after mucuman with her slaves,
what must be the condition OF the poor?
WHAT CAN THE GOVERNMENT DO?
In Crato the number of famine deaths registered
from February 10 to March IL 66i; in Corin dur
ing the same time nearly four hundred recorded,
and so on for the other villages But by May the in
terror of the province almost deserted. Even
large places like Crato and leo hardy con-
tanned o tenth Of their original population.
The scene of misery transferred TO the coast
wish to note one fact that tells of crime crimi-
nal neglect somewhere; history will record where
the sin lies. During tho great exodus and for q
month before there were two government store
houses ut Fortalcza full of provisions And yet tho
government had been withholding aid and the people
were dying by thousands The wonder is that these
starving crowds did not sack the storehouscs They
threatened to often enough. There disturbances
in Aracaty. Fortaleza and elsewhere. but. tho
.tola rio Tlso In Icta
rather than rebel. great is tho fear of the law.
But after this have less i'll TO say of the general
government. On the 9th Of January tho
old corrupt Ministry was dcposed and tho
now one, known as tho ''Sinimbu Cabinet" came
into power. In lame way this now Ministry prac-
tiscd economy. Il sold the useless iron-cads. dis
charged officials. avoided foolish schemes. tried to
bring dcccncy into the Custom House. and honestly
cndeavored to aid tho drought stricken districts. II
was hard work. deficit of s40,O00.o0o; unccr-
tain income; outside credit gonc so tho govern