Daily camera., 1897-02-05
HINDOO HORRORS.
Terrible Suffering Occasioned by
the Drought.
A Ceylonese In Chicago Tells OF the
Miseries of the Poor Buddhists-
Contagion and Starvation
Are Rife.

"The present drought in India is one
of the most severe ever KNOWN said
Mr. Vincent L. T;ssera recently.
81 am from Ccvlcn and know what
the horrors of a famine resulting from
drought are. Ten or 12 years ago the
Ceylonese were the victims of a com
paratively mild water famine, but the
suffering / witnes5cd then wrung my
heart and | can see IS plain rs though |
were in the country the agony of the
starving Eindoos. The British papers
have not given the truta in its pitiful
completeness, and ever tk0u~h they did
all in their power to alleviate the pres
ent distress thousands must die of
starvation. Russia's proffered aid was
refused by the English for political rea-
sons. John Bull wants nothing done
that will augment the kindly feelings
of the Hindoos for the Russians. There
are 2OO,OOO,0OO people and nearly all of
them are vegeterians. They believe it
a sin to kill an animal and the result is
easily seen. No vegetation on which
they can subsist can escape the drought,
and patheticaIly sincere in their belief
of the teachings of Buddaa, the poor,
ignorant people will starve rather than
prove unfaithful to this time-hOnOred
tenet of their religion and eat the flesh
of animals.
america has spent millions of dol
lars in sending and maintaining mis-
sionaries in India and |. as a Christian,
am thankful for it, but now is the time
when the Americans, and the churches
especially, can show that the love and
charity they have preached so many
years to my countrymen are not merely
subie of discourse but real cOndi-
tons. Aid from America would do more
for the conversion of these people than
all the preaching that has been done in
all the years since missions were first
established in India. 1t is charity
the ignorant could understand and 1
know and God knows how woefully they
are in need of it now.
"a car load of huslls would be re-
ceived with the Joy of a people who
have been living on roots that tn"
drought has spared. Millions of people
have no other food and knowing the
likely results of such diet they still
must eat. Leprosy is the outcome in
many cases, but what will not a starg-
ing man do? Think of your own arctic
explorers who resOrted to cannibalism.
But IoprcSy. though the most dreaded
disease and a common one in India, IS
not the most prevalent or fatal Of the
ills that come from root diet and i'm
pure water. A plague called in the
native tongue 'buTbOnic' fever, some
thing like yellow fever, carries OFF
thousands [ hear daily that it las be-
gun its ravages to add to the horror Of
starvation and poverty. One day 500
died of it, but it has not begun to do its
worst yet"
Mr. Tissera is a Ceylonese. At the
time of the worlds fair he came to
America in charge of the agricultural
products of Ccylon. Obtaining a three
months leave from the railway by which
he was employed at home that he might
visit further the country with which he
was East becoming impressed he trav-
eled al over the union. That decided
him ard he resolved to make America
his l0I-r. He is the first of his nation
ality . go into business in this city.
Beside his native tongue, he spaaks
Portuguese. Tamil, the tongue O. south
ern India, Spanish, English and is now
mastering the German language. He
is not a reCc-.t convert to Christianity,
as the religi-- has been handed down in
the family from the time Of the first
missionaries, 100 years ago, when the
forefatber of the present Tissera was
onvcrtcd-ChiCaGO News.