Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 February 1879 — The Famine and Pestilence in South America. [ARTICLE]

The Famine and Pestilence in South America.

Much has-been written of the horfors of the great famine in China, and scarcely an incident of the progress of the plague in Europe has been allowed to escape the notice of the newspapers, but the great calamity in Brazil has received comparatively little attention. Some months ago a brief dispatch noticed the ravages of the small-pox in coti flection with the drought and famine in one of the Provinces, but this and subsequent reports were confined to generalities, and failed to give an adequate idea of the horrible visitation. Last year, when the yellow fever desolated so many districts in the Southern States, the sympathetic people of our ehterprlsing Nation had railroads, steamboats aUd the telegraph at hand to enahle therti to render efficient service and prompt assistance. Under) the most favorable circumstances the scourge was terrible enough, and the deaths in the infected’ regions reached a total of nearly 12,000. But in the stricken Provinces of Brazil the deaths in a population of 900,000 numbered nearly 600,000. ' -~r The particulars of the great calamity are given in letters from Ceara, Brazil, to the New Fork Herald. The writer penetrated to the infected districts, and speaks from personal observation, picturing a scene of desolation and terror that scarcely has its equal in the history of famines and plagues. The Province of Ceara is about as large as the Middle States, and was inhabited by a class of people dependent on the crops of thgir small farms for support. There were no manufactures, no industries, no trade with other regibns, few roads* no railroad and no telegraph; The principal commercial town on the coast, Fortaleza, has no harbor, and reports of the famine, which began in 1877, were a long time in reaching the Government or the outside world. By the beginning of 1878 the mortality from starvation was terribfb, and the panic-stricken and starving peasants flocked to the larger towns. Here there was little to give, and Government iaid came slowly. Men fought like tigers for refuse, women died with starving children in their arms, and, in sofibe cases; men and women devoured the deAa bodies of their own children. It is estimated that 150,000 people died from hunger. At last supplies reached the famine districts, but the ignorant people were demoralized, and it was difficult to enforce sanitary regulations. The dead bodies of thos'e who had starved were in many cases not buried, and in other eases only a few handfuls of earth had been thrown upon them. The survivors huddled together in the towns, lived in filth and idleness. The whole population of the Province was gathered in a strip of territory along the coast not more than seventy-five miles wide. The drought still continued, and birds, , .insects and animals died. The people were fed by Government rations, but the fearful death-rate continued, and it was discovered that pinall-pox had broken out among the refugees. This wits in June, 1878, and the disease spread rapidly to all classes, including the wealthier and aristocratic people of the cities. Up to this date the Government had had the advice and aid of these. Now all became panic-strickep, and a reign of terror Was inaugurated. In the 90,000 people gathered in and about Fortaleza, the) death-rate in the latter part of November was over 500 per,dav. Oh the last day of November there were 574 deaths, and, during the month nearly . 12,000 interments had taken place in the two cemeteries',’ and thousands ol dead bodies lay unburied in the forests. At this date over 80,000 people were sick, and on Dec. 10 the deaths from small-pox were nearly 1,000. - This was the death-rate of the great London plague, but there was then a population of 300,000. At Fortaleza, with a population bf only 75,000, there were 1.000 deaths in a single day. The death-rate deoreased from that date, dropping on Dec. 20 to 400, and by DeC. 30 to 200. The registered deaths for the month were 21,000. In the midst of such pestilence there was necessarily muohtearelessness as to •biiriaL—Dead -bodies - were -- laid- intrenches and a light covering of sand Was thrown over them. This carelessness in due time added new honors to the situation, and contributed, no

doubt, to the inaffgnfatfcrt* of a new disease resembling the Black Plague novV taging In Russia. V Scenes like those described In Fortaleza were common in other towns of the Province, and, as has been stated, out of a population i of 900,000 only 400,000 .remain. The Brazilian Government made all possible effort to stop theVavages of the small-pox, and in some localities their agents were successful. As it is, the Province is, in truth, desolated, and If the new disease at Fortaleza is the plague, more disastrous consequences are to follow. The Black Death has never appeared in America before, and, if the reports as to its existence In Brazil "are true, there is need for precautionary measures in this country as well as in Europe. Fortunately the infected Province is remote from main lines of travel, and the disease can be the more easily kept within circumscribed bound*. — Chicago Inter-Ocean.