The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, March 07, 1879, Image 1
skiiikr. UNION C. II., SOUTH CAROLINA, MARCH 7, 1879. I^PIflPHMBHi
'4 ~ the Brazilian famine.
jflT *,Wi% Sorrowing Story of a Dreadful Calamity.
r1vV> *' Half a Million People Carried Off by
*., .r . Starvation 'and Pestilence.
J. The famine of 1877-78 is confined to
i?k<? :?\$4h?t part of Brazil which is known as th?f^'
. ,'Scrtao. This region is utterly unlike the
iriatted forest flats of the Aalnzon or the
<>*? : .? Cnoisa Mountains of llio. It is a rolling
3fla> > '4 ipUin, ascending gradually from the sea^
-Coast and diversified cvorywhere with isoffir'
- 4 dated hills aud mouutuins. There is forest
. . growth, hut it is low and not thick, uiuch
\$F, ,-tnoro like our Northern wood# than one is
*pt to tuiagine for tropical growth. In
the S-rtoa the seasons ore very sharply
-divided. The rainy months proper exteud
. " froth January to Juno or July ; the remain-'
der of tho year is dry, so dry that the trees
shed their loaves and tho grass is all with*
ered. People can only obtain water by dig
ging for it in the dry beds of streams, for
. ** . thero ore no perennial rivers in tho Sertao.
It sometimes happens that the winter
months remain dry lik-j tho others?a terriblo
calamity for tho poorer people, because
they depend for a liying on the products of
their little plantations, and the crops can
only bo raised during the rains.
A POVERTY STRICKEN POPULATION.
In this part of Brazil there arc no manufactures
whatever, very few miucs, no fishcries
of importance, no forest industries.
Tho community is extcmcly agricultural and
pastoral. Thero are immense herds of cattle,
considcrablo plantations of sugar, cotton,
&o., and tho poorer people plant uinndiocu
nud corn, using tho laud of their richer
neighbors, for whom they do a little work
occasionally. Whether it bo for the pasturage
of cattle or tho growth of crops the
whole community depends on tho soil, and
hcnco on the fertilizing ruiqs of winter.?
if the rains do not come the people starve.
Again, the population has to suffer terribly,
beoauso it has no help in itself. Of the
2,500,000 nominal inhabitants of the Ser>.
. - * toa not 100,000 are rich men or even rea
sonably well off." Tho vast majority are an
Arab-like raoe, produced by the intermix.
v- .tUro tho blacks, whites and Indians?
^^adgkr^fcrnple who have no property and uover
poopfe live in palui-thatchcd huts; the women
do most of the farui work ; tho uieu
gain a few dollars ns herdsmen or by hiring
themselves out for a day occasionally.
The upper classes, on the contrary, will compare
favorably with auy in Brazil. Most
of them are pure whites ; they are intelligent,
brave, domestic?far ahead, iu fact,
of the llio or San Paulo Brazilians. This
mixca population was aistriDutcu tnrougn
the Sortuo, much as the people are in our
Western communities. There are numerous
villages and hamlets, joined together
by tolerable roads, hardly any railroads, and
as I have imtimated, no navigable rivers.
It is important (o note this, as it explains
much of the sufferiug brought on by the
drought. The Sertao is a strip averaging
f)00 miles in widllfcti/extoudiug from the
l'arabyba Kiver southward along tho coast
or near to the St. Francisco; thcnco between
the coast range of mountains it is
continued southwestwnrd to Minas Geraes,
almost in the latitude of Rio. The drought
oi ioi t-io was ion an over tins tract, but
its black nucleus was in the Province of
Ceara. Tbis Province, to which my observations
wore confined, is about as large aj
the Middle States. In 1870 it contained
000,000 inhabitants, of which at least 750,000
were non-proprietors?tho poor people
of whom I havo written. The Province
contained only one port of importance, its
capital. This is indifferently set down on
tbo maps as Fortaleza, or Cenra. Its normal
population is 25,000. The streets arc
well laid nut, and in general tho little city
is one of the prettiest and neatest in Brazil.
"There is no hurbor; vessels anchor in the
open roadstead and passengers are taken to
wml fro in little sailing rafts?tangadas or
catamarans.
THE BEGIN NINO OF THOU II I.E.
I visited the place in March, 1877. The
^IfZHiirlit was then n suhieet nf crane ml enn.
o7~ "7" ~?rf"* ? o
war* at ion, but nobody understood the cxtout
of the calamity. Suddeolj, like a
thunder bolt, there canio to the quiet town
a message of terror. Men's faces grew white;
men's heart* sank within them, for liicy
jknew what the words prophesied. It was
from Tulhn, is the interior of the provinoe,
a letter dated March 8, so that it must
hare reached Fortelesa about March 20.?
The words were scuiplo enough : "People
aro dying here of hanger." Now this was
early in March, when tho drought had
j lasted no more than two months, when it
; vrus not yet eertaia thnt tho yeor would bo
t. . 1 L _ J - ? . ?
a| aiiog<Hiicr a una ,jhte. i?ui 10c poor oertancjo
U so evenly balanced with naturo
that he cannot stand a fresh strain, llis
uiaodioes field is for a year only. In a
year and a month he starve unless he has
new crops. It was a sad month in the
8ertoa?thia o ie of March. In some places
thore had been light showers, bat tho
young grass wrowth from these had dried
>-< up on the blaek plains. There wero no
leaves on the trees. The cattle were crying
for water as only mute nature can. ChilSaL
4*
drcu were crying for food in palm-thatched ]
huts. All the earth cried for rain, and yet t
not a tear of pity came frout tho clouds.? 1
The large cattle proprietors began to kill J
their stock in order to get the meat nt)d (
ttides while there was time. Tho peasants
gathered around these slaughter houses to
beg a morsel of flesh,and, for tho most part,
they found willing hearts and hands, for
the richer Cearcnccs aro not the men tore- fuse
an alms. Jiut where there wcro no
cattlo the poor people Buffered dreadfully.
Already they began to devour the muciiman
seeds (like a red bean) and forest roots
?unwholesome, discasc-prodtMtnj; food?
but what could starving people do ? April
came with u blazing suu; uo hope of rains.
The* people, indeed, wore in despair. They
had formed long penitential proccssious,
cutting thomsclvcs with sharp knives or
carrying heavy stones on their heads.?
New they began to flee from tho country
to tho larger villages. Some of them catno
down to tho City of Fortaluza, ragged,
dirty wretches, with famine marks on ,
their faces, with famine weakness in
their thin forms, and still the government (
insisted that the drought wrs a political
scheuio to bring their party into disrepute.
The people were eating cats and dogs by ,
this time, when they could get them.? 1
l*ut for the most, part they were begging of j
lichcr neighbors. The strain was so great ,
that private charity began to fail. Cattle
stealing and potty thefts of provisions were ,
of every day occurrence. Letters written ;
at this time already contained sad pictures. [
DESPERATE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE. ,
This universal abandonment of the open '
couutry was a feature of the drought.? *
The poor people from the first sought ref- 1
ugc in the interior towns or at Fortalcza.
Some fled to neighboring provinces, where,
however, matters were hardly better. In
Piuuhy and ltio Grande the peasants were 1
already dying of hunger. And this, re- 1
member, was only in the beginning of the '
evil tiuie. Think of the suffering all
through this weary year ; think how people 1
who were starving in April must have lived 1
in July, October, December, with the bra- 1
zen sun every hdur drawing awav the little
uioisturo thai was left. It was no longer
tho question of saving herds and crops. P
but of siving.huiunu lives.. The oattlo had ij
,
TTot n tenth part survived or tho lmuieusc 1
herds ; sheep and goats had fallen a prey to
starving robber bands. It was unsafe to 1
travel alone, even by day, so desperate
were tho poor people. The influx of refugees
to the villages and towns was enor- 1
uious?fifteen or twenty thousaud was uo 1
unusual number in a place whoso normal
population was no more than two or thrco '
thousand, liy the end of the year there 1
were 70.000 wretches cncauiped around '
Kortuleza, lying on the sands under huts 1
made of boughs or palm leaves, hardly !
clothed, filthy, famished, begging, where J
they could, and finally dying in the streets,
because private charity was exhausted.? '
My collection of letters, written during this !
time, is only a repetition of sad scenes? 1
hunger, pestilence, us^assiuation, ruin of
the rich, dying of the poor.
DAWN OF TilR YEAR 1878.
Picture to yourself the condition'of Ccara
in .January, 1S78. A proviuce dried up,
blasted, Pastures without grass, forests
without leaves, rivers without water, fields
without crops. The cattle industry destroyed
utterly; only a few beeves survived
about the larger towus of tho thousands
that had roamed over these plains. The
cotton aud sugar industries almost annihilated
; no mandioca eveu, except in about
three or four mouutain villages. People
obliged to go fivo or six miles from their
houses to dig for water in the bed of some
torrent. At least two hundred thousand
refugees encamped about the larger towns
?70,000 of theso added to tho 25,000 of
Fortulcxa. A famine mortality which iu
many places has reached twenty per day.
A mortality from disease very much greater.
No money in the provincial treasury;
uo hope ot outside aid, except the drop of
private charity, and all uicu looked for
rain.
So I might go on endlessly. Alas! I
know how real it was. The tears como to
my eyes even now when I read these piteous-cries
for help. Hunger, pestilence,
want?theso were what (Jeara hud to fight
when the second great famino year broke
upon her. Iu January there was fear, in
February terror, in March despair; no
rains at all in somo places, littlo, useless
showers at best. And now cotnes the most
torrible scene of all. Thcro wus no nioro
hope in tho Scrtao. No food and no possibility
of obtaining it, exoept along tho
seashoro. Then the wholo bewildered,
famine-stricken, pauio-wild crowd camo
sushing down to Fortaleza and tbe coast
citi'-s. Without food for the road, naked,
sick, dying even as they fled from death?
every man for himself. Childron striving
vainly to keep up with their parents, crying
as they roll over tho atones, with bleeding
foot and skeleton bodies, walking, crawling
along, bogging where no one could
give?for how could a man support thousands
? They were famished when they
started. Three, fojtf,'five days they held
their way. Then they foil by the roadsido
and groaned and died, Some pitying hand,
tl
.kg*-. ? .!? _ . . J _ J 1LIMP g.l
perhaps, threw a handful of earth over
hem, but for the most part each w as too
jusy with his own safety to carc for others.
3o our humun brothers aicd.
)NE HUNDRED AND ?'I fA THOUSAND VICTIMS.
.
The greatest mortality^rom hunger was
probably in March; IVotit February 1^to
May 1, when the exodus Was taking place.
L can hardly calculate the number of famine
deaths at less than one hundred thousand,
ind during tho whole drought probably
ono hundred and fifty thousand died of
hunger. I should ndd ijtift tliy calculations
ire much lower than those of other persons;
jomc place the cntiro number as high as
three hundred thousand. In Aracaty the
loath rate fluctuated between ninety and
jnc hundred and ten a day; in Fortalcsa it
was less at this time, but eighty per day
was bad enough. I havo uotices of ten,
twenty or uiorc daily deaths in small villages,
and everywhere alone: the roadsides
nameless crosses still tell the story of uncatllOgUed
victims. Dark talcs of eaunibalisui
begiu to appear. From a letter written
at Quicxcrauiobim I translate as follows
:
,lI write in hasto. Have no. time to
transcribe the sccuc of horror about me.?
It is enough to give you as n specimen cue
nameless crime. A father, whoso ns^ure
was so overcome by huugur that he killed
ind cooked in u pot his little child, two
years old. This took place in California, a
settlement near Quixada. The father died
?oor. after his horrible least. I have three
or four similar stories, very well authenticated.
I believe that these nnd other
eases of cannibalism were caused by insanity?a
common result of hunger."
I quote also, a letter from JaguariboMirim,
one of many that tell the same story :
"This villgec is full ot abandoned chidron;
the despairing fathers would no longer see
them torn by the mostcr hunger. This very
lay, while I was eating dinner, my house
u/rw invniliifl tiv n priuril nt ... .... t Al..1
.. ..w ?UTMvaw M vivnu ui hUVOU NIUVUI1VU
childrcu, very skclctous, who could hardly
speak. Some of them were so weak that
they would take only soup, obstinately refusing
uioro soli 1 food. The road from
here to Aracaty is full of bodies. ' You can
o^cr ^
and one old woman. By the bbdiSfc there
were three strips of leather in the kettle
over the ashes ef an extinguished Gro.?
A dog, the faithful friend of the family,
was still watching them. Near Lcttrado
three young girls and an old man were
found eating the flesh of a dead horse
which lay by the roadside. This was a
family from Loaras. Even in the villages
these poor wretches no longer ask for maniioca
meal ; they ask for cats and dogs to
sat. (This is no exaggeration. Ouc
shopkeeper told ir.c of a refugee who asked
permission to kill the rats about his place.)
Three days ago I made a journey of six
leagues by the road from Ico, aud what 1
saw was indescribable/ I found eleven
dead bodies by the roadside and at least
forty who were dying. Happily there is no
pestileuco hero j tho deaths ere l'roui hun?cr
" , , . *
From the first, both public aud pvivato
charity made tho terrible mistake of giving
r...wi ?. i?.1 1
1UUU nilllUUb IUIUIII9, lUIVIIl^ LIIU JIUOJUU 111
idlcuess. The result was inevitable. After
a few weeks the peasants settled into
condition of easy mendicancy and idleness
?would not work whcu they could. They
lay all day in thejr filthy huts, drew their
rations and cooked them, grew fut but not
healthy, for thoir laziness made them fit
food for disease.
TIIK FILTHY REFUGEES EMIGRATE.
For those that wished to emigrate the
government paid a deck passage, in the
early part of 1878 especially the number
of these emigrants was very great?as
many as 1,000 on one steamer. They took
passage generally to Para, sometimes to
Mnranhatn, Periiauibaco or llio. Paekod
in dirty crowds on the vessel, oftonsivo,
even to the sailors, by their filthiness, and
often poorly supplied with food, they fared
badly Mough. In more than one instance
tbo smallpox appeared among them on the
oyage, aud then they died like vermin and
wore thrown into the sen. Probably fifty
thousand emigrants left Coara. They were
rccoived kiudly enough iu the other provinces,
though their aeods wero not always
promptly met. But for the most part they
would not work; thoir uiendicaut habits
were now so confirmed that they would
only beg or starve. So they nursed their
misery long after pcQplo had ceased to pity
them. The neat Para peasants despised
them. At best they wero unfitted for a
forest lite; so they begged and stirred and
sickened and died, just as as they had in
tboir own province.
CEARA IN JUNE, LA8T YEAR.
And now we come to tho last sad scene,
the scene that is yet unrolling itself, and no
one can tell the end. Unhappv province !
Pitiless indeed would he bo wlio could view
thy tortures unflloved. Consider the prov
inco as it was in June, 1878. Tho intcrioi
region, once well populated^was now almosi
deserted. Only a few starving families re
nmined to mark thriving towns and villages
I state literal truth when I say that in th<
fall of this year it was alntost impossible t<
^ ? u
v
1.1 v a L- * " " '5T-^
Waste In lIoL'BKKBKMKO.-^Americans
arc industrious, money-making people, but
they are not economical. Our housekeeping
is proverbially wasteful, allowing lcaktgo
nt every point, sufficient in the aggrogatc,
iu many households, to support a European
family. Some writer (wo know not to whom
to give the credit,) has made the following v
extensive, but by no menus complete enumeration
:
Muck waste is allowed in cooking meats.
Unless watched, the cook will throw 6nt
water in which meat has been boiled, with-r
out letting it cool to take off tbc fat; orsbo
will empty the dripping-pan iuto the sarill?
pail. The grease is useful in innuy ways.
Again, bits of meat arc thrown out, which
a French cook would convert iuto an excellent
hash.
Flour is sifted in a wasteful manner,, or
the bread-pan is left with the douerh stick?
travel fur from the count, because food and
water were on utterly unattainable an they
would be in the Sahara. 1 have conversed
with a man who made the journey to Crato
in November ; lie described a howling wilderness,
where oue sees ouly deserted houses
aud leafless tveos und crosses by the roadside.
With our genial climate we cannot
understand a real drought. Iu Oearn birds
and insects died during the first blazing
summer. Imnpfne what tho plains must
have been with a second dry year. The
whole population was gathered in a strip
not more than scvcuty-fivo inilca iu its
greatest width running along the coast.?
The people were crowded alout the cities
and villages, living in wretched huts and
drawing government rations. At one time
there were 150,000 of them at Fortalcza,
80,000 at Aracaty, and so ou for other places.
BREAKING OUT OF SMALLPOX.
The people had food enough, but still the
death rate increased steadily. In Fortalcza
it had reached 200 per day, even as early
as May or June. Iu Aracaty it was hardly
less. There were pernicious fevers, boriberi,
a little cholera. Yellow fever disappeared
with the spring months. Jtut above
all other disease the smallpox began to assume
a terrible pre-cuiincuco. It was
worse at Fortalcza. Very few of the people
were vaccinated. Isolation of the sick
was never enforced. The pestilence, confined
at first to tho refugees, soon spread
to the richer classes. By October the 150,000
adventitious population had dwiudlcd
to 70,000 or 00,000, including the townspeople
; many had died, many had emigrated.
Among those that were left the pestileucc
was stalking and marking its victims.
Ou November 1, 99 persons died of
suinllnox in Fortalcza; ou November 2, 121.
utid this out of a population of only 80,000.
Your yellow fever deaths never reached
stlch a proportion. But tho disease went
ou increasing rapidly. Two hundred,
three hundred, four hundred deaths a day
?toward the eud of November the figures
ran above five hundred. Ou tho 30th
there were 574 registered, but this includes
onlv the interments in-tho nuhlio (rrAHiulsi
thick forest or carried out to sea ou catamarans
and sunk there.
APPALLING DEATH LISTS.
The whole number of registered deaths
in November for the two cemeteries in
San Joao Haptista and Logoafuuda was
11,075. Of these 9,270 were smallpox cases.
Hut I think we must add to this at
least one thousand buried in tlio woods or
sunk at sea. At this time there were 30,000
sick?more than a third of the population.
Still the death rate increased. On
December 10, 808 smallpox dead were buried
ir the cemetery of Lagoa-funda, at least
75 in San Joao aud probably 150 in the
woods and the sea-^-a total death record of
over 1?000 in a single day?and this out of
a population (now reduced) of only 75,000.
The great plaguo at Loudon reached this
death rate, but that was from a population
of 300,000. Alter this the mortuary rate
decreased, but only because the disease had
nothing more to feed on. A certain per
ccutage of a community are exempt fron:
smallpox. A few, no doubt, were saved bj
vaccination, lly the end of the year the
death rate had gone down to 200 per day,
(pi., i i_-.i-- p? .i -
? ue vuiiiv iiumiuui ui UL'.UIIS ior (DO DIODtl)
was not far from 21,000. In all great cpi
demies, it is said, the people become indifferent
to their danger. In Fortaleza this
iudiffercnce was sufficiently astonishing.?
When I reached tho place on the 20th ol
December the death rate was 400 per day,
but business was going ou much as usual
nnd hardly anybody had been driven out ol
tho city by the danger.
APPERANCK OF THE DLACK PLAQUE.
I could write muoh more of Cenra anc
tho good and evil I saw there; tho evil
alus, too sadly predominant! Only ont
thing moro I will note, for it may bo the
sign of another scourge in tho future.?
When I left Fortaleia people were talkiug
of a disease which they called black small
pox. It was utterly unlike the ordinary
smallpox. The patient was seized with t
sudden giddiness, fever and burning of tlx
tongue; then dark spots liko bruises ap
penred on the body, and in twenty-foui
hours all was over. 1 surmised from tho fifst
and I bcliovo there is now no doubt, thai
this is tho terrible black plague, tho scoutgt
that has so often swept through Europe anc
I Asia, but which, so far ns I know, has dev
| cr appearod before on this side of the At
luutio. The eases were already nuuieroui
at the beginning of this year. One of thi
first victims was the wifo of the provinoia
president. Senhor Jose Julio. She died ii
a few hours atler the disease attacked her
She was buried at nighk, without attendance
, What will bo tbo result of the new pestt
lence ? I only know what has been?mi
! province utterly rained, a population o
r 900,000 reduced to 400,000 and these dy
ing at an enormous rate. Probably thcr
r have been 300,000 deaths in tho othc
L drought-stricken provinces, of which I hav
few notices. There is nothing in histor
. that will compare with it. God grant thn
> there never may be again !?Letter fcoi
) Brazil to New York Herald.
iug to it.
Pic-crust is left over, and laid by tosour,
instead of uiaking a few tarts for tea.
Vegetables arc thrown away which would
bo nice if warmed over for breakfast.
Cream is allowed to mould and spoil,
mustard to dry io the pot, and viuogar tocorrode
the castor.
Good knives ar j used for cooking in tho
kitchen, silver spoons arc used to scrape
kettles, and forks for toasting bread.
Tea, roasted coffee, pepper and spices, are
allowed to stun*! open and thus lose their
strength.
Dried fruits not cared for in season become
wormy, aud sweet-meats are opened
aud forgottcu.
Viucgar is drawn in a basin, and permitted
to stand until both vinegar aud basin
arc spoiled.
Soap is left in the water to dissolve, or
more used than is necessary, and the scrubbrush
is left in the water.
Parrels and tubs arc left in the sun to
dry and full apart; tins put away without
being properly dried aro rusted. ? ~
Molasses stands opcu and flics take possession.
Vwi*
rubbed on tho wash-board; and laces are
torn in starching.
Table-linen is thrown carelessly down'
and nibbled bv mice ; is put away damp aud
mildews; or the fruit staius arc forgotten
nnii the etninu u'mlinJ *> " "
? ...v ?I Itauvu IU J ui nut.
Tabic napkins are used to wipe dishes,
auJ tea-pots arc melted ou the stove.
Lard is not well tried out, and becomestainted,
aud rats destroy tho "soap grease."
Hones arc burned that might he broken
up aud thrown into the compost heap.
Old shoes, woollen rags, aud such accumulations
arc permitted to lie round loose
| iuslead of being composted l'or your favorite
grape vines.
Sugar is spilled around tho barrel, coffee
from the sack, and tea from the chest.
Wooden boxes nre used to take up ashes,
1 then the box is p ashed aside and forgotten.
1 1 Many a family has boen made houseless and
> homeless in a night by such an iuadverl
tencc.
Each of the above items is a trifle in it*1
self?and yet in a houso where all theso
' trifles were "happening"?just iuiagino
> what a place it would bo ! la theso and
many other ways a careless and iuexperieu?
i ced housekeeper will waste without heeding,.
?nay, eveu without knowing that she
wastes. On the contrary, because she cn1
tertains but little company, buys no fine
clothes, makes her own dresses, and eooks
plainly, she may imagine that she is an cxi
oeeding'.y economical woman aud a very
1 superior housekeeper.
I CJ i vo T..? - " * "
KjttTm ?. iym nia.iiht.?xjvcd Dy tarmcrs,
who should bo the ones who would rcalizo
tbo value there is iu it, there seems to be
but an iodiffcrout effort made to save tho
* hen manure, for much of its valuo is wasted
! by not taking care of it properly or iu time,
' while it is often used on such crops as are
not oapable of utilising it to tho greatest
> ndvantago or profit. Good hon nmnuro
from fowls whioh have been liberally fed is
' worth a9 much as guano, for all kind
1 of crops for which guano is used^nd if
' farmers and those who have small gfcrden
patches would only realise this fact, they
: would pay more attention to collecting and.
* saving tho droppings from their hens than.
1 they do. Wo do not think there is mueh
? necessity for cleaning the fowl house out
every dAy, as Rome do, but clean it out
every week, giving it a good sanding every
time it is cleaned, so as to keep the floor
3 clean from droppings and make it easier to
' clean out when ncoessarj. Some sprinklo
ashes, sawdust, chips, ete., on the floors, but
1 wo consider sand prcferablo, for it seems
' to separate, to disintegrate, tho droppings
' better, soon making it by a little care in.
working over almost aa fine and as easily
* Applied as guano or any of our superphosphates.
Wo always put it into barrels as
soon ns it is taken up from tho ohieken
c house floor, and oonvey it to some drv. sirv
^ place where ,*ro let it remain until wanted,
for use, when wo empty it out on a heap,
y and work it ovor well Defore applying it to.
' the crops.?Poultry Jinlletin.
i Pay the printer what you owe, and renew..
t