s managed to eke out a subsistence by the
sale of their pigs and any little effects they had. But pigs, fowl,
furniture, and clothing soon went, one after another, to satisfy the
cravings of hunger. The better class of farmers lived upon their corn
and cattle; but they were obliged to dismiss their servants, and this
numerous class became the first victims of starvation; for when they
were turned off, they were refused admission by their relations, who
had not the means of feeding them. Tailors, shoemakers, and other
artisans who worked for the lower orders, lost their employment, and
became destitute also. While the means of support failed upon every
side, and food rose to such enormous prices that everything that
could possibly be eaten was economised, so that the starving dogs were
drowned from compassion, the famine steadily advanced from the west
and south to the east and north, till it involved the whole population
in its crushing grasp. It was painfully interesting to mark the
progress of the visitation, even in those parts of the country where
its ravages were least felt. The small farmer had only his corn,
designed for rent and seed: he was obliged to take it to the mill
to ward off starvation. The children of the poor, placed on short
allowance, were suffering fearfully from hunger. Mothers, heart-broken
and worn down to skeletons, were seen on certain days proceeding
in groups to some distant depot, where Indian meal was to be had at
reduced prices, but still double that of the ordinary market. As they
returned to their children, with their little bags on their heads, a
faint joy lit up their famine-stricken features.

When the visitors entered a village their first question was: 'How
many deaths?' '_The hunger is upon us_,' was everywhere the cry; and
involuntarily they found themselves regarding this hunger as they
would an epidemic, looking upon starvation as a disease. In fact, as
they passed along, their wonder was, not that the people died, but
that they lived; and Mr. W.G. Forster, in his report, said: 'I have
no doubt whatever, that in any other country the mortality would have
been far greater; and that many lives have been prolonged, perhaps
saved, by the long apprenticeship to want in which the Irish peasant
has been trained, and by that lovely, touching charity which prompts
him to share his scanty meal with his starving neighbour. But the
springs of this charity must be rapidly dried up. Like a s