heard from the few survivors of the distressing
situation of the district. Both there,
and at Horgsland, and, indeed, at some
other places, it was necessary to burn the
bodies upon the spot; since there were no
horses left, and but few persons who were
able to convey the deceased to the church.
I ought indeed to add, that the circumstance
of the earth being frozen to a considerable
depth, as well during the winter
as the spring of 1784, made a measure of
this kind the more indispensible; the few
that were free from disease being so enfeebled
by hunger, that they had by no
means strength sufficient to break up the
indurated ground, and open graves for so
great a number of bodies as now required
interment. As often, therefore, as burial
was at all resorted to, six, seven, eight,
and even ten bodies were placed in one
grave, and, for the sake of sparing exertions
that they were little able to encounter, this
was frequently so shallow as barely to allow
a covering of earth above tbe lid of
the coffin. That the air, from such a mode
of interment, must soon become corrupted
and dangerous for the human race, especially
in the summer season, is a fact that
speaks for itself.
It is necessary for me here to remark,
that the disorder principally attacked those
who had previously suffered from want and
hunger, and who had protracted á miserable
existence by eating the flesh of such
animals (not even excepting horses) as had
died of the same distemper *, and by having
recourse to boiled skins and other most
unwholesome and indigestible food. From
respect to my readers I forbear to enumerate
a variety of other things, which, as
articles of food, were in an equal or greater
degree nauseous and disgusting, and which,
were I to detail them, would serve to show
what shocking expedients the extreme cravings
of appetite will drive men to have
recourse to, and how that it is possible to
convert almost every thing to food.
* I have been assured, in the district of Skaptefield,
that the ñesh and milk of sick animals had a remarkably
unpleasant taste, and that, in particular, the milk
was of an unusually dark and yellow color.