A poor father was
still able to sit up, but his legs were dreadfully swollen, and he was
dead in two or three days after the Rev. Mr. Hall's visit. Beside him
lay his sister, and at his feet two children--all hastening to eternity.
Captain Caffin wrote to a friend an account of his visit to Skull, and
his letter was published in many of the public journals. "In the village
of Skull," he says, "three-fourths of the inhabitants you meet carry the
tale of woe in their features and persons, as they are reduced to mere
skeletons, the men in particular, all their physical power wasted away;
they have all become beggars. Having a great desire to see with my own
eyes some of the misery which was said to exist, Dr. Traill, the rector
of Skull, offered to drive me to a portion of his parish. I found there
was no need to take me beyond the village, to show me the horrors of
famine in its worst features. I had read in the papers letters and
accounts of this state of things, but I thought they must be highly
coloured to attract sympathy; but I there saw the reality of the
whole--no exaggeration, for it does not admit of it--famine exists to a
fearful degree, with all its horrors.
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