The New Orleans crescent., 1868-12-06
Hunters Annals OF Rural BengaI.

Mr.. W. W. Hunter, of the British civil service
in Bengal, is the author OF the most interesting
ana accurate account OF the native people of that
region which has yet appeared. He is one of the
few officers OF the foreign government among
them " ho have studied them with profound and
intelligent sympathy, and applied to their Ian
Cusges, religion, social order and history the same
methods of investigation which have been so fruit
full ia similar studies among the natives of Europe.
la consequence of this the volume before us,
which claims to be only a survey of the peoples
on the western frontier of lower Bengal, at the
close of the last century, IS In reality one OF the
most important contributions ever made to the
knowledge which the civilized world possesses of
the subject races Of India in general. All the
questions, whether OF pnilology, ethnology or pub
nc economy, which are suggested by the inquiry,
are met broadly, and with a fallness of the
knowledge quite surprising in "a work written in
Jungle, eight thousand miles distant from Euro
pesn Libraries, amid the changes and exactons of
an Indian career" page III
But if anything lie lost by this isolation, much
more is gained. Not only has the author derived
valuable information from native records never
before consulted by an historian but the fresh
and vigOr given TO bis descriptions and mar
rstive by having the scenes OF them before bis
eyes as be writes. would alone recompense the
reader for the absence of much recondIte learn.
ing which might be useful.s Mr.. Hunters style IS
charming though not fautless, II Is clear, direct,
thoughtful and often eloquent; and his matter is
so full of varied interest, that despite a few
pages of somewhat technical discussion on a
question OF language (pages l57-l79) his book,
as a whole, is fascinating even to the general
reader.
No historical picture could be more effective
than that given by Mr.. Hunter OF the great famine
of l770 in Bengal. by which, az he clearly shows,
Z" the failure of single crop, following year of
scarcity within nine months swept away ten mil
lions OF human beings" (page "a } one-third of a
total population rs great as that of the United
Statesin in 1860. Neither the extent OF the calamity
at the time. nor the frighful inadequacy OF the
measures adopted by the government 10 meet and
mitigate it, is made text for moralizing. Bat
the appalling facts with their causes skillfuy aud
elaborately traced ont, are presented with feel.
ing simplicity to which reflections could give
emphasis. After vast amount of discussion and
confusion in the matter of contributions by the
state to save the people from starvation, '' the
utmost that the council, when pressed by the
court of directors To government relief efforts,
could show, was q distribution of $1,000 among
thirty millions Of people. of whom six 10 every
sixteen were officially admitted TO have persisted"
(page 81 } or one dollar and half TO help each
thousand people through year Of famine.
The depopuation of Bengal by this calamity
was such as to change, for two generations, the
| relations between labOrers and landholders- Be
| fore the famine land was scarce, aud workmen so
| abundant that the whole peassntry fell into the
| power of the landlords or revenue farmers and a
| cry of rural oppression arose euch as has never
| been heard before or after" page 59.) Bot
after il. vast tracts of land lay waste one-third
"a us ss $ 1ns US %a psgs
merely for want of laborers to till it; and labor
eTs were in such demand that the q non resident
! ryots," sort Of agricultural jOurneymen, " whs
| had previously formed an insignificant and de.
| araded order, continued during thirty years the
most prominent feature in the rural system oi
| Bengal" page 6O.)
| Nor were the effects of this famine less upon
| the face of the country than upon the system OF
labor. In the waste lands wild beasts multiplied
so rapidly that the native popu at on, who had no
| firearms, often gave way before them. " In two
| parishes alone, during the last few years OF the
native administration, 6ftysix villsges with their
| communal lands had all been destroyed and gone
| 10 Jungle, caused by the depredations OF the wild
| elephants" says an official report OF the year
1890 (page CO., The Introduction OF railways
and the deVelOpmt Mt of general system OF trade,
have made such local pressure OF famine as thar
of l770 impossible anywhere In India, as the inter.
| esiing accounts here given OF later seasons OF
| scarcity show (page 5l-56.) AT the same time
! the sport Of English hunters, and use OF fire
| arms by the natives, have made the larger wild
| beasts scarce. page 2ll.)
| There is nothing more interesting or more valu-
able in the work than the account it gives of the
\ relations between the two races which occupy
| BeAeal-the black aborignes and their Aryan
couquerors. For many centuries they have lived
side BY side, the former ignorant, superstitious,
| ensaved labOrers the latter superior to them n
| mind and body, 10 a far greater degree, apps'
rently, than any race in Europe or America ia su.
perior TO smother race upon the same soil. To the
/ millions of this strange country the system OF
| caste, commonly regarded as the foundation OF
| HiDdoo society, has no existence. " The gre
| gulf between the conq1erors and the conquered
! has never been bridged; and the social distnc-
tiops that disgrace Hindoo society are not distnc
/ tons between various ranks Of the same people,
but distinctions between too 1.-TWO :, widely diverse
aud long hostile races" page lll.)