The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 39, July 1935 - April, 1936 Page: 187
346 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Confederate Exodus to Latin America
the approach of the Brazilian summer (winter in the United
States). But Christmas dinner at the Millers, where turkey, native
fruits, and sweets were served, broke the deadly monotony and
helped to restore a waning morale. A cordial invitation from
Monsieur Prelon, a Frenchman whose acquaintance had been made
at Linhares, was declined.
The new year (1868) brought with it trying situations. Early
in the year Dr. Keyes, the father, left for Rio de Janeiro to set
up an office for the practice of his profession of dentistry, leaving
Spencer with the family. From the first, he had expected to
return to the capital with his family as soon as the plantation
was well established; dwindling funds made it necessary to return
before developments on the lake got well under way. Then came
a season of dry and hot weather-the worst in thirty years-that
killed the vegetables and blighted the field crops. Worse, the heat
and the drought were accompanied by an increase in sickness.
Chills and fever raged until there was hardly a person in the
entire colony not stricken. In the Keyes family, seven of ten
children, and the hired man, were victims at the same time. One
daughter lay near the point of death for several days. There was
no ice to cool her scorching head. An application of wet towels,
constantly fanned to increase the evaporation, was a poor but
indispensable substitute. It was only through the ministrations of
Providence, Dr. Johnson, and Anna Miller that her recovery was
made possible.
During the siege of chills and fever, food for the sick became
scarce. Fahrina and dried meat were scarcely palatable for the
well in wilting weather; they would not do for the infirm. It
became necessary to go from house to house-and the houses were
miles apart-in order to secure a fowl from which broth might
be made. Father Keyes finally dispatched provisions from Rio
de Janeiro; but for days the flour, sugar, rice, and beans lay on
the bar at the mouth of the Doce for want of somebody to bring
them to the lake. Disease had stricken the community, weaken-
ing the normally slow means of communication. Worse, if pos-
sible, than the absence of wholesome food, was the scarcity of
quinine, at that time the only known remedy for the periodic
convulsive shaker. These trying experiences came during the domi-
cile in the huts. Two factors operated to dispel the gloom: the187
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 39, July 1935 - April, 1936, periodical, 1936; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101095/m1/207/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.