THE FAMINE IN CHINA.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1895, 23 May 1889, Page 3

THE FAMINE IN CHINA.

The North China Daily News of a recent date received from a correspondent at Newchwang a letter giving »n Bcconnt of what ho has seen himßelf in the conree of a relief expedition with one of the missionaries who are devoting themselves to tnis arduous task, in a climate whrre the thermometer -Btands constantly below zero. The details aie almost too shocking to print. We read of families, their clothing and furniture sold or burnt for fuel, living on a broth made of chopped willow leaves, or the husks of millet. Many families have not even this, and are patiently starving to death. The writer tells of one family of six—and this is only one of hulndreds of cases—living in a dug-oat hofa flush with the ground, about 8a large as a good-sized dog kennel, " eating stewed willow leaves, and seeming to enjoy them ; here the remark was made that now the New ! Tear would come for them ; meaning, I I suppose, that now there were hopes of getting some food." The distributors of relief, too, run no little risk. The writer says: cases are driven almost to madness by hunger ; and when one is in their midst, alone, with just sufficient of the language to make himself understood, to say nothing of the ghastly sights and unwholesome smells, I say the position is not enviable." One touching incident be mentions . —" A little girl about 12, en being given a Chinese ceke, instead of eating it herself, immediately chewed a small portion and gove it to a kitten, which sna ched at it as a cat will at a bird. The poor kitten could not stand, and since their grain hi?d been finished (two days) the kitten had not eaten anything, as it could not eat the husks on which they were living."