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 WITHOUT THE WALLS OF SEOUL

CHAPTER XXI

Drought—Starvation—Inland Disturbances—Rainfall and disease

is difficult for us in England to understand how far-reaching may be the evils, resulting from the complete failure of the rainfall, in countries where the population relies upon it for their daily bread. A brief mention, in the Press, of the lateness of the monsoon gives no sign of the anxiety with which many millions of people are regarding the approaching harvest. Water means life to the rice-fields, and a drought implies, not alone the failure of a staple crop, but famine, with disorder and starvation, disease and death, as its accompaniments. A drought in the rice-fields makes a holocaust of the people in the winter. The forces of law and order at the disposal of the Government of India place some restraint upon the populace. In the Far East, where the civil administration is