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THE PEOPLE WERE GAUNT
Starvation and disease spread across the Irish landscape, claiming one million lives. Half a million people were ruthlessly evicted from their homes. Many died on the side of the road, their moths stained by grass in a desperate attempt to survive. "The features of the people were gaunt, their eyes wild and hollow, and their gait feeble and tottering. Pass through the fields, and you were met by little groups bearing home on their shoulders a coffin," wrote Irish novelist William Carleton. |