A Dreadful Picture: Famine and Pestilence in Brazil
Under the heading, “A Dreadful Picture,” the Inter-Ocean of Feb. 15 gives the following description of the appalling situation in Brazil. In the midst of the ordinary blessings of health and prosperity, we can hardly realize the condition of the unfortunate inhabitants of the smitten districts of Brazil. It seems as if the worst inflictions recorded in history are to be surpassed in our own day. We may expect these calamities to increase and spread; for the world has grown old, and the Judgment is near. The Inter-Ocean says:— NEW YORK, FEB. 14.—The Herald’s letter from Brazil gives a frightful picture of the drought, famine, and pestilence raging in the northern portion of that country for more than a year past. It is said to be the greatest calamity in two hundred years. Half a million people have been swept away by starvation and disease. The small-pox and black plague carried off victims in appalling numbers, and thousands of bodies are rotting in the open trenches at Lagoa, Funda. Thousands of other corpses are torn and devoured by wild animals. The starving peasants eat up their own offspring. Some places, including the city of Cerea, are depopulated. There are terrible struggles for life. The children are abandoned, and the young souls sold for bread. Thousands of living skeletons were to be seen. Government aid is tardy. The letter presents a picture of woe such as can hardly be paralleled in history, except by the siege of Jerusalem and the black death which desolated Europe in the fourteenth century.