Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/790

766 766 INDIA [FAMINES. Assam, and in the Punjab. Near the village of Ye-nang- yaung in Upper Burmah, on the banks of the Irawadi, there are upwards of one hundred pits or wells with a depth of about 250 feet, from which petroleum bubbles up in in exhaustible quantities. The annual yield is estimated at 11,000 tons, of which a considerable quantity is exported. Petroleum wells are also found in the British districts of Akyab, Kyouk-hpyu, and Thayet-myo, which first attracted British capital with most promising results in 1877. In Assam petroleum occurs in the neighbourhood of the coal fields in the south of Lakhimpur district, and was worked in conjunction with the coal by a European capitalist in 1866. In the Punjab petroleum is worked by the Public Works Department at two spots in Rawal Pindi district. In 1873-74 the total yield was only 2756 gallons. Lime- Stone-. The commonest and also the most, useful stone stone. of India is kankar, a nodular form of impure lime, which is found in almost every river valley, and is used uni versally for metalling the roads. Lime for building is derived from two sources, (1) from burning limestone and TcanTcar, and (2) from the little shells so abundantly found in the marshes. Calcutta derives its chief supply from the quarries of the Khasi hills in Assam, known as &quot; Sylhet lime,&quot; and from the Susunia quarries in Bankura district. The Gangetic delta is destitute of stone, nor does the alluvial soil afford good materials for brick-making or Other pottery. But a European firm has recently established stones, large pottery-works at Ranfganj in Bardwan, which employ about five hundred hands, and carry out contracts for drain age pipes and stoneware. The centre of the peninsula and the hill country generally abound in building-stone of excel lent quality, which has been used locally from time imme morial. Among the finest stones maybe mentioned the pink marble of Raj pu tana, of which the historical buildings at Agra were constructed, the trap of the Deccan, the sandstone of the Godavari and the Narbada, and the granite of southern India. Quarries of slate are scattered through the peninsula, and are sometimes worked by Euro pean capital. Mica and talc are also quarried to make ornaments. Among the hills of Orissa and Chutid JSTagpur household vessels and ornaments are skilfully carved out of an indurated variety of potstone. Dia- Precious Stones. Despite its legendary wealth, which is monds. really due to the accumulations of ages, India cannot be said to be naturally rich in precious stones. Under the Mahometan rule diamonds were a distinct source of state revenue ; and Akbar is said to have received a royalty of 80,000 a year from the mines of Panna. But at the present day the search for them, if carried on anywhere in British territory, is an insignificant occupation. The name of Golconda has passed into literature ; but that city, once the Musalman capital of the Deccan, was rather the home of diamond-cutters than the source of supply. It is believed that the far-famed diamonds of Golconda actually came from the sandstone formation which extends across the south-east borders of the nizam s dominions into the Madras districts of Ganjam and Godavari. A few worthless stones are still found in that region. Sambalpur, on the upper channel of the Mahanadi river in the Central Provinces, is another spot once famous for diamonds. So late as 1818 a stone is said to have been found there weighing 84 grains and valued at .500. The river valleys of Chutia- Nagpur are also known to have yielded a tribute of diamonds to their Mahometan conqueror. At the present day the only place Avhere the search for diamonds is pursued as a regular industry is the native state of Panna (Punnah) in Bundelkhand. The stones are found by digging down through several strata of gravelly soil and washing the earth. Even there, however, the pursuit is understood to be unremunerative, and has failed to attract European capital. About other gems little information is available. Ot Turquoises are said to be found near Multan in the Pun- S e) jab, though far inferior to the Persian stones. Independent Burmah yields many valuable gems ; and some excitement has been caused by the discovery of sapphire mines just across the Siamese frontier. Poor pearl fisheries exist off the coast of Madura district in the extreme south, and in the Gulf of Cambay ; but the great majority of Indian pearls come either from Ceylon or from the Persian Gulf. In the year 1700 the Dutch obtained a lease of all the pearl fisheries along the Madura coast, and sublet the right of fishing to native boatmen, of whom seven hundred are said to have taken licences annually at the rate of 60 ecus per boat. The town of Cambay in Guzerat is cele brated for its carving in carnelian, agate, and onyx. The stones come from the neighbourhood of Ratanpur, in the state of Rajpipla. They are dug up by Bhil miners, and subjected to a process of burning before being carved. The most valued colour for carnelians is red, but they are also found white and yellow. Lapis lazuli is found in the mountains of the north, and freely used in the decoration of temples and tombs. FAMINES. As the agriculture of India is mainly dependent upon the bounty of nature, so is it peculiarly exposed to the vicissitudes of the seasons. In any country where the population is dense and the means of communication back ward, the failure of a harvest, whether produced by drought, by flood, by blight, by locusts, or by war, must always cause much distress. Whether that shall develop into famine is merely a matter of degree, depending upon a combination of circumstances the comparative extent of the failure, the density of the population, and the practicability of imports. Drought, or an inadequate supply of rain, is undoubtedly Cat &amp;gt;i the great cause of wide-spread famine. No individual fan foresight, no compensating influences, can entirely prevent those recurring periods of continuous drought with which large provinces of India are afflicted. An average rainfall, if irregularly distributed, may affect the harvest to a moderate degree, as also may flood or blight. The total failure of a monsoon may result in a general scarcity, sufficiently severe to arouse the solicitude of Government. But famine proper, or wide-spread starvation, is caused only by a succession of years of drought. The cultivators of India are not dependent upon a single harvest or upon the crops of one year. In the event of a partial failure, they can draw for their food supply either upon their own grain pits or upon the stores of the village merchants. The first sufferers, and those who suffer most in the end, are the class who live by daily wages. But small is the number that can hold out, either in capital or credit, against a second year of insufficient rainfall ; and not impossibly a third season may prove adverse. All the great famines in India of which we have record have been caused by drought, and usually by drought repeated over a series of years. This being so, it becomes necessary to inquire into the Wat water supply, which varies extremely in different parts of su Pt the country. It can be derived only from three sources (1) local rainfall, (2) natural inundation, and (3) artificial irrigation from rivers, canals, tanks, or wells. Any of these sources may exist separately or together. In only a few parts of India can the rainfall be entirely trusted, as both sufficient in its amount and regular in its distribu tion. Those favoured tracts include the whole strip of coast beneath the Western Ghats, from Bombay to Cape Comorin; and the greater part of the provinces of Assam and Burmah, together with the deltaic districts at the head of the Bay