The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-11-22

Boston, Nov. 21-The American
board of foreign missions has received
the following letter from Rev. R. A.
Hume, d D., dated at Ahmednagar.
India, Oct. 16, 1896:
l am just entering upon my zSrd year
OF missionary service IN inoia. In these
years 1 nave been through many -perpiex-
ties Bit the end OF the 22nd year Iinds
me in greater pecun-ary embarrassment
tnan ever before in my life. Many is
tho day thar there Is not a dollar in the
mousse Tor the personal expenses, for DID,
established fruitful work, or for our the
Cioglcal seminary, nor any idea where a
dolIar IS TO come from. And in the BIRD
-6er Enere seems the almost certain
prospect of the keenest and most trying
suffering and perpleXity, caused by wide
I s-5Ie-.d fam4ne.
The Indian weather bureau foretold an
inadequate rainy season this year. The
result IS as foretold. From the HlmalayaS
10 cape Comarin the rainy season mas
been inadequate. In this lAhmeonasaiJ
district, the early rain in June and July
was good. But since July there has been
10 rain and now the prospect is that for
el-ht months more no ram will fall. In
consequence the first crops have not
properly ripened, and for want of later
ran the crops cannot be even sowed in
most places unless there are wells TO be
depended on. Even the water supply is
EoT low What will it be a few months
hence l have been through one famine
in India, and the recollection of ii is most
sad. But that was not a general so much
as CO nparatively local famine. The
coming Iamlne seems likely TO be very
general Already grain riots are common.
Grain merchants will not sell grain
largely, because they know the price VIII
greatly increase, though even now prices
ere go per cent above normal. SO peo-
PIE break open grain shops and grana-
yes and threaten TO kill the merchants
if they interfere. They say: I'VE shall
h.xra \ WIT Har-e
interfere with our getting our grain, and
we XII you in the struggle, it will be all
the same" Similarly these people say
to the police and courts: Arrest us for
stealing and support Us in jail. Then
we shall not die from starvation" When
quiet, orderly people are aroused to such
acts and words you can imagine their
present condition. But this is only the
beginning of our troubles No rain has
fallen for eight months. No seed can be
sown for eight and a half months, and
no grain ripened for over ten months.
What fearful suffering seems to be in
Storei
Already in some places parents are de-
sorting their children. In some places
cattle are being sold for the value of
! their hides. In many places farmers
forcibly drive their cattle into forest re-
serves and say to forest officers: You
may put these cattle into pounds, then
! they will at least get feed, but we shall
not regard forest regulations"
/ Yesterday morning, near the gate OF
/ Ahmed Magyar, cart OF grain was
! stopped by hungry men, who held -
| driver until some of them carried on
! the grain. For two days my servants
| tried in vain to buy so cents worth OF
! grain for use. If they do this thing in
/ the green tree, what shall be done in the
| dry? The early part of October is the
oretically a part of the rainy season; in
/ ordinary years our water supply is most
abundant now, and the crops are at their
best.
The Rev. Edward Hume writes from
! Bombay, under date of Oct 10:
You have doubtless heard through the
papers that Bombay is suffering from the
plague. Yesterdays reports show thai
during the past week there have beer
nearly 500 deaths, or 80 per cent above the
normal for this time of the year. This
excess is due to the presence of the
| plague, which the doctors technically cal
| "bubonic fever" The symptoms ar5
! swelling on the neck, in the armpits and
groins, accompanied by fever and vomit-
J ms, and the patients present a very
notably sad and demented appearance
IN one case which has been reported
| death took place after an Illness of 2
hours, but in most cases the patients
linger on for two or three days. At frs
the mortality was very high. but now tht
authorities assure US that not more thar
| 80 per cent of the cases are fatal Ever
experts cannot tell us from whence the
disease came, nor what the cause is.