178 TW^O YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 



food, physicians, and medicines. Relief camps were organized in 

 stricken districts, to which the low-caste people flocked in thousands 

 for food and medical treatment ; while thousands more, of higher 

 caste, staj'ed away and Uved upon the " money-doles " which were 

 distributed faithfully and judiciously by the missionaries. 



I veiy frequently visited the relief camp at Animallai, and studied 

 its internal economy with much interest. As it was a type of many 

 such, I will try to describe it as I saw it for the first time. On a 

 stretch of open gi'ound near the river stood a rectangular enclosure, 

 about four hundred feet long and two hundred wide, divided in the 

 middle bj' a wall, so that the whole formed two hoUow squares. 

 Rough pole sheds with roofs of thatch extended all along the sides 

 of the enclosure, and afforded diy sleeping rooms for the people. 

 In one corner of the yard was the kitchen, in which was a long row 

 of huge, earthen cooking-pots, and next to it was the doctor's office. 

 Outside the camp was another shed which served as a hospital. 



I passed into the camp in the evening, just at meal-time. One 

 yard was empty, but the other was filled with men, women, and 

 children, squatting upon the ground in three divisions, each sub- 

 divided into ranks of ten or twenty. There were about three hun- 

 dred people present waiting to be fed. At a gate near the upper end 

 of the wall dividing the two yards, stood the huge earthen pots ; one 

 containing pepper-water, the other a kind of soup made of gram, 

 and some baskets full of boiled rice pressed into balls. Those for 

 the children were about the size of large pop-corn balls, those for 

 the men and women were three times as large, and weighed two 

 and a half pounds each. In each of the pots was a ladle made of a 

 cocoanut, shell with a piece of bamboo for a handle. 



The food was steaming hot, and the people were not only ready 

 but anxious for it. When the word was given, the children rose, 

 approached the gate in single file, and I took my stand beside 

 the jar of pepper-water and prepared to serve it out. The children, 

 most of whom were absolutely naked, came up closely one after an- 

 other, each cariying a receptacle for his portion of food. Some had 

 earthen chatties, some had joints of bamboo or old tin cans, and 

 others had only shallow pieces of broken crockery or leaky tin. 

 Each received a ladle full of soup, another of pepper-water and a 

 ball of rice, and they all filed through into the other yard. The 

 children, as a rule, looked quite weU cared for, and some were quite 

 plump. 



Next came the men, and with them we had our hands fulL 



