The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-04-10
The Famine in Brazil.


The Assistant Secretary of State at
Washington, has received the following
letter from Andrew Cone, the United
States Consul at Pernambuco, giving an
account of the great drought in North
'crn Brazil.
1t is proper that should send to the
| Department of State an account of the
great secca or drought of Northern
Brazil, which extended along the Sertao
| 0he term of Sertao simply means the in
terror OF . country as opposed to the
coast; the inhabitants of the Sertao are
called Sertaneios), or interior, from the
headwaters of the Rio Medeirio to the
Sierra Araripe, which separates the
Province of Ceara from Pernambuco.
The climate is hot and dry, except on
the coast, where it is modified by the
sea breezes, There is not single navi-
gable river in the province, but the
Sertao is watered by host of little riv-
ers, all flowing directly into the ocean.
1t has been valuable for pasturage, and
Ceara was noted for its cattle, particu-
larly its fine horses.
Ceara is an agricultural province, COW
ering an area of 1861 square miles, and
its inhabitants are, for the most part, in
telligent and Industrious farmers. Cot
ton, coffee, and sugar-cane were extern
sively cultivated, its principal export be-
ing cotton, its greatest source of wealth
the cattle commerce. The rainy season
begins in January and lasts till June.
The remainder of the year being without
rain, the rivers and streams dry up, and
in ordinary seasons the want of water is
sometimes so great that the inhabitants
have been obliged to leave for more IA
vored districts. ~ .lt
Two noted seccas prevailed during the
years 1926 and 1845, but / doubt whether
there has ever been here, or elsewhere,
in the history of the world famine so
fatal in its effects in proportion to the
population as this of Ceara. Those of
India and China, it must be considered,
occurred in crowded countries, where
the people are counted by millions, and
not by thousands, like the Cearenses.
Two years and half ago, when the sec
ca commenced, the Province of Ceara
numbered 100000 inhabitants; out of
these 100000 have died of disease and
starvation.
The secca begun in the summer of
1876, and has continued to the close of
the year, 1873, lasting for thirty months;
no rains having fallen during the whole
two years and a half, and the once fer
tile and luxuriant Sertao, where the
farms and villages prospered in peace
and plenty, now presents the appearance
of vast blackened desert burnt over by
fire.
In November of 1876, after the east
ivete" or summer-sleep, when the
"Chuyas de Cajus," or fruit rains, failed
to appear, the people did not worry, as
their acueles or ponds were not yet ex-
hausted, and they looked confidently for
ward to the winter rains to set everything
right But these never came, and, as the
dry spring advanced, sad accounts began
to come eastward of poverty and suffer-
ing among the poor. Later on, as the
burning summer slowly passed, bringing
no November showers, and another JAN
uary went by without rain, there came
appalling news of famine, disease, dead
cattle, and of dying and despairing peo-
pie. Long penitential professions were
formed and the miserable Sertanejos
beat, cut and otherwise punished them
selves to appease an unoffended Deity.
But the pitiless secca still continued,
threatening everything and everybody
with inevitable destruction. The wretch