Year: 1877

THE INDIAN FAMINE.


Hundreds Of Thousands of Wretched


Creatures in Madras who are Dy-


ing for Want Of Food Terri


BILE but not Over-Drawn


Pictures.


All Hindoos are charitable by nature
Giost families have crowds of hungry
hangers-on, even in the best of times,
but with this great dearth the family
burdens have been added to. In going
through a street Of the more wealthy
part of the town it is common 10 see
at almost every house number OF poor
people collected waiting for their daily
dole of food, and in this way the native
communities of this and other towns
have been doing quietly and unosten
tatiously a great deal to help their
poorer brethren in their struggles for
life. But from all that l can learn
distress is already reaching the class
are caste difiictsluz...r Sst.1
at the regular relief houses, and many
are gradually starving before the pressure
becomes 50 great that they will leave
behind their pride and social prejudices.
and join the common herd at the gov
erDment kitchens. With regard to the
town of Madras the local committees
are now making inquiries regarding
the numbers OF better classes who are
in want of relief and this relief will be
administered, as far as possible, in
manner consonant with the feelings and
usages OF the classes We wish to benefit.
1t is quite certain that the destitution is
very real. within a stones throw Of
my own house there is a native VIII
lage tenanted by servants of Europeans,
small shopkeepers and others, and for
some time past my wife has been feeding
a few little starvlings belonging to this
village on bread and milk. These are
immigrants, but children Of our local
poor, and out of a dozen little things
come every morning for their food, two
or three are so far gone that they will
not be saved. II we fed all who wanted
help out OF this little village we should
have hundreds on the list. As | write
there comes before me a woman with
two little children, the woman in the
last stage Of exhaustion, one child at
the breast with a face like little wiz
ened old man, and its body a
mere skeleton, the other child, a
little girl of hve years of age, extremely
emaciated and feeble. Witt this family
are two young girls, both miserably thin
and famine stricken, and with their
strength quite spent. They all speak
with voices that are thin, and sounding
As if far away, just rs happens in the
last stage of cholera. \ little Sarm soup
and bread, and milk for the children,
revives all of them in a wonderful way.
After rest, they get curry and rice,
and are seut0 on a cart to q relief camp.
Standing at the entrance-gate OF my
house, ! can in halt an hour count hun
dreds es wretched creatures who have
hardly strength enough y e. a.. ...,,.-t,-
less and homeless wanderers from distant
villages for whom the government pro-
vides centers of relief; but the people
will not rest quietly and conserve their
energies. They drag themselves and their
feeble children about, wandering from
camp to camp, until the time comes for
them TO lie down and die. IN day last
week | saw q small crowd assembled near
to Government house. The people were
gathered around a famined family: one
of wnom, little girl Of seven years, was
diving of exhaustion. The bystanders
were trying to feed her with milk and
rice. but she could not swallow. In
Bangalore hear that the people die in
the streets at the rate of fifteen and
twenty day, and the police in Madras
are reporting such deaths as common
There comes time in the course of every
famine when the people affected by the
scarcity can neither exert themselves nor
bear any climate changes without great
peril to life. Bodies enfkebled by long
privation are very susceptible to fatigue
and weather changes. Tie last ten days
have been a rainy time, and the mortal
itv among the famine camps has been
higher than ever. Rumors reach us that
the v1ceroy Is coming down Immediately
from Smla to Bombay and Madras to
consult with the local authorities in
regard to future arrangements for the
management of the famine. Lord Lytton
will not arrive day too soon The food
supply of the people in Madras and
Mysore and the threatened extension of
the famine area in Bombay are matters
of the highest imperial interest, and
should be discussed in the heart of the
famine area, and not in the cloud-capped
Capua OF the Himalayas.