Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 10 (2nd edition).pdf/475



ORISSA. 463 River, distribute the water for irrigation, and utilize it for navigation and commerce. Sea Inundations.—The Orissa coast is also subject to cyclones and devastating tidal waves from the ocean. Situated as it is at the converging extremity of the Bay of Bengal, storms from the south heap up the waters on its shore. Such storms are frequently accompanied by a heavy rainfall, which simultaneously floods the rivers, especially the Mahanadi. The elevated lerel of the sea, with its high incoming tide, then nxets the rivers in a state of flood. The result is a stormwave, which sweeps over the maritime tract, submerging the jungle, and drowning the spirse hamlets of that desolate region. A terrible catastrophe of this kind occurred in the autumn of 1885. The lighthouse establishment was buried under water, and a large number of people at False Point, including some of the port officials and their families, perished. The destruction to catile and property was on an enormous scale. The storm-wave rushed in a few hours over several hundred square miles, obliterating all vestiges of human habitation. The shipping at False Point harbour and along the coast also suffered severely. Several vessels were driven on shore, and numberless native craft were destroyed in the creeks and lesser harbours. The Famine of 1866.—The famine of 1866 and the diseases consequent thereon, which are estimated by the Famine Commissioners to have robbed Orissa of one-fourth of its population, deserve somewhat detailed notice. Up to October 1865, rice continued to be tolerably cheap in Cuttack, and had not reached at all near 21 lbs. per rupee (25.), which the Collector of an Orissa District would consider a famine price authorizing relief operations. In Puri District the prospect was gloomy to a degree, and prices there were about two and a half times their average rates. When the expected rain had not fallen by October 20, panic set in, the rice trade stopped, the country ceased to supply the towns, the búziírs of Cuttack and Purí closed, and the Commissioner of Orissa in consequence telegraphed the position of affairs for the information of Government. On November 6, the Conmissioner reported that rice was priced at 16 lbs. to the rupee; on the 11th December he recommended the establishment of Relief Committees, but it was not until April 1866 that actual want set widely in, when a rupee only purchased 11 lbs. of common rice, when death by starvation was imminent for the poorer classes, and when the general appearance of the land and the people bespoke the awful presence of famine. From June to July prices continued to rise, and in the latter month were eight times their normal amount, in most places rice was not to be obtained at all, and the people had recourse to the grass of the fields as food. Meanwhile, the establishments of the country began to grow disorganized. On the 28th May the Com