A TERRIBLE STORY OF DROUGHT AND DEATH

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1579, 8 June 1887, Page 2

A TERRIBLE STORY OF DROUGHT AND DEATH

We " Pall Mall Gazette " have reoelved for publication the following letter from Las Penai, m the province of Cordova, In the Argentine Republlo :—" I'll just give you a small sketch of the ' mlorobe ' that is fast thinning us out here— oholera. In Rosarlo It has nearly d'sappeared, bnt m Canada de Gourez, where, you will remember, I used to be, the Italians especially are having a fine tlmo of it. They die m heaps, and are chucked into an immense pit, or are burled by their relations under a mound of earth m the middle of a wheat field. Their goods, and chattel are then thrown Into a heap and burned — that la to say, what the soldiers don't pocket. In Mendoza and Tuouman, two places that used to be Ih'okly populated cities, the scourge has beenao terrible that few have returned to tell the tale. Some days m tho centre of the latter place as many as 250 died a day, to say nothing of the outskirts of tbe town. In Montevideo they do not wait for them to die, but cart them off as soon as they get sick. The paperß any that the dead carts pass through the streets with dead and living all mixed up. The scenes m the hospital are, or rather have been, something too terrible to describe, The authorities have fought pluckily against this fearful pestilence. A brother of a friend of mine was assassinated a few days ago at Tucuraan by an infuriated mob, who m the panic believed that the filtered water was meant to poison them. I was m Bosario a few days ago, taking down Mackenzie, who has been seriously ill, and happened to hear the story from this poor beggar's own lips. Mackenzie is In Rosar.'o, waiting to reoove? his health to go home. We are passing through an awfnl crisis. The drought here Is so terrible that a glass of watar la being sold for five cents— 2£d 1 The oattle are charging the fences madly, and I daren't even keep them book. One of the streams that crosses Estanoia, and also provides the water of nearly 10C0 people, has dried np ! What with tbe drought, oholera, and the fearful hallstorm, In which we lost about 1000 cattle, you oaa Imagine the state we are m. The drought np to the present Is said to have saved us here from oholera, so perhaps we ought to be thankful. The heat is past all description. Imagine, the horses and cattle In Mendczi have also died of oholera ] They have barred the passes to Chill, and so everyone Is out of work there, and unable to sell a thing."