Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/605

* INDIA. 329 INDIA. folding during the great crustal movements that elevated the ranges in late Tertiary times. In the southern flanking chains, or suhHimalayas, the most prominent formation comprises Tertiary sandstones, conglomerates, and clays, in dis- turbed position. These strata (the Siwalik group) are enormously developed, and contain a remarkable assemblage of fossil mammals. The great river plains of India occupy depressions in sedimentari' strata, mostly of Eocene age. The Deccan plateau is formed largely of basalt which piiurcd out from great fissures during tho Cretaceous period. Tlvese basaltic sheets occupy an area estimated at 200,000 square miles, and attain a vertical thickness of several thousand feet. The Vindhya Mountains on the north have a gneissic axis, with Paleozoic sediments on the flanks. East and south of this range there is a large area underlain by sandstones and shales, to which the name Gondwana system has been given. This group extends probably from the Permian to the Jurassic period: its fossil fauna and tlora are more nearly allied to the life-forms of South Africa and .ustralia than to those of the Eurasian continent. JIixiXG. Considering the extent of area and the large population, the mining industjy is strikingly insignificant, though the recent de- velopments are beginning to give it some im- portance. Increased utilization is being made of the coal resources of the country, much to the advantage of the railroad and milling interests. The annual output of coal increa.seil from 2..562,- 000 tons in 180.3 to 0.09.5.000 tons in 1900. The Province of Bengal produces over three- fourths of the total product, the output having grown from 1,915.000 tons in 1893 to 3.883.000 tons in 1899. The principal other coal-mining regions are the Nizam's Dominions. Assam, the Central Provinces, and Central India (Rewa). in each of which the output was greater in 1899 than in any preceding year. The increased pro- duction has resvilted in the decrease of the im- ports of coal — which amounted in 1900 to only 83.200 tons — and the increase in the exports of coal, amounting to 541.400 tons in the same year. Coolie labor is prominent in the working of the coal-mines. The mining of gold is also rapidly becoming /mportant. the yield having steadily increased from 107.273 ounces in 1890 to 51.3',2(ifi ounces in 1900. The greater part of this is mined from the quartz denosits of Mysore, although some gold is obtained from river gravels in the Hima- layas and elsewhere. . parallel growth is being made in the production of petroleum, the output in 1900 having been nearly 38.000.000 gallons, the greater part of which was obtained from Upper Burma. The importation of mineral oil is still more than twice as great as the home produc- tion. Tl'rc Government has long maintained a nionopolv in the production of salt. It is ob- tained mainly bv the process of evaporation, and the industry is carried on along the coast region and at some of the interior lakes. The annual yield is estimated at about 1.000.000 tons. Salt- petre is obtained in the plains, leail and copper are mined in the Himalayas, and tin and rubies in Burma. India was long famous for its dia- monds, but the output in the last century has shrunk into insignificance. .VoRim.Tl'RE. This industry, which has al- ways been the principal source of subsistence for the people of India, is increasing in impor- tance imder British control, as improved means of production and transportation enable foreign manufacturers to deprive native arti.sans of their occupation, forcing them back to dependence on tiie cultivation of ihe soil. The land of India, though varying in composition, is generallj' fer- tile and is very productive, being aided by the tropical climate. The country is kept in con- tinuous danger, however, of crop failure and consequent famine by the general uncertainty of rainfall. Practically the only districts exempt are the southwestern Malabar Coast, the Deltaic district of the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Burma. (See section on Climate.) In some regions, as in the lower (Janges Valley, the precipitation is ordinarily quite hea^y, rarely failing to meet the needs. Irbioation. From remote times the inhabit- ants of India have sought, l)y means of artificial water-supply, to protect themselves against the calamities of drought. Under British control the irrigation works have been enlarged and new ones constructed on an enormous scale. In 1900 there were 31,544,000 acres, one-seventh of the total crop areaj under irrigation. This was over four times the area irrigated in the United States, which ranks next to India in this respect. The area actually irrigated varies with the lack of rainfall froni year to year, and the com- mercial value of irrigation schemes varies in different sections. In Sindh and Lower Pun- jab irrigation is necessary every year. In the alley of the Indus the necessity for irrigation decreases with the distance from the Himalayas, but the system is used as a protection against drought years, and to supplement the rainfall of average years. This is true also of the Upper Ganges region. In the Lower Ganges valley, as indicated above, irrigation becomes less and less necessary toward the Deltaic region, in por- tions of which the danger of drought gives place to that of inundation. In Madras (except the west coast) and the Deccan or Central India region, irrigation is a jrractical necessity as a I'rotection against frequent droughts, and to sup- plement the usual rainfall. On the east coast of Madras, especially where 'wet crops' principally are grown, irrigation is an absolute necessity. In Orissa and Upper Bengal, thoiigh the ordinary rainfall is quite adequate and droughts seldom occur, the Government has constructed irrigation works as a safeguard against dry periods. These works are considered indirectly profitable to the Government, however, since they obviate the loss of land revenue and the expense of supplying a famine-stricken district with food during a drought year. The Orissa and some of the other canals are also valuable for navigation. The sources and methods of irrigation vary throughout the coimtry. Before the British oc- cupation wells were used chiefly, and have con- tinued to increase in absolute, though not in relative, importance, because, where practicable, they constitute the cheapest method. They are generally employed by private enterprise, and are still the largest source of irrigation in the United Provinces of .gra. Oudh. and Gujarat. Reser- voirs, generally called tanks, have been used since ancient times to furnish water for irrigation, and are especially adaptable to broken, hilly regions, where the construction of a long system of canals is impracticable. They are found