Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/555

Rh of a palankeen with its noisy set of bearers; while the European soldier, with his wife upon his arm, serves to remind you of the supremacy of English rule over these populous and widespread provinces.

Coimbatoor owes much of its wealth to a large and lake-like tank, formed by collecting the waters of a small river. The water is retained by a dam until wanted for the rice-fields in the dry season. It is then distributed, by means of a graduated sluice, through small canals to the various fields, each owner paying so much per inch for the water. Thus a small stream is made to spread fruitfulness and plenty over a large district of country, increasing immensely both the wealth and comfort of the people and the resources of the government. In this and in a thousand other ways the prosperity of India may be increased, and will be increased by the prevalence of true religion, infusing life, energy, industry, and mutual confidence into the popular mind. In the day when her idols have been cast to the moles and the bats, her wealth will be doubled, and her population, if doubled, will be more rich and prosperous than now. When this blessed change shall have made, all over the earth, the desert