New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-04-04
IN STARVING INDIA.
TYPICAL VILLAGE IN THE FAMINE
STRICKEN DISTRICT.
THE MARROW LIVES OF MILLIONS NEVER vA1
FROM THE VERGE OF STARVATION.

II is In part OF the province which has been sui.
ferng the horrors OF famine for months. There
are hundreds OF thousands OF villages exactly Ike
It, in other faminestricken districts in the north
west provinces In Dude. In Bombay. In Nissa, 70
that one description will 1T them all.
A hot. ptIless sky. dead level OF brown plain.
fading away into the blue mIsts OF the horizon. In
vast monotony. Where the ragged palms draw
closer together. between their crooked stems rib
bon OF blue smoke rises into the sky. In the hot.
trcmulous air. brown kites hover and circle. their
shrllllng cries echoing forth the lonely fields
Higher up the vutures are nero black specks
against the sunlight.
Where the trees thcken, there is a village; some
hundred houses. II houses they be called when
stone brick wood Is used In the building Of
them. They all built on one plan. though the
village itself Is without plan OF any kind simply
few OF houses, at all angles to each other.
with regular streets roadways. only underlined
open spaces between them. Each house IS on .
raised clay platform. and the four walls are built
of clay. laid layer layer while II is still wet and
the whole rooted with reods and palm leaves. with
rafiers Of bamboo. The window-framcs are mere
holes: the door, loose screen bamboo frame with
matted palm leaves. The inhabitants arc not
greatly In evidence; at best they Ill a small place
in the picture. hardly more than the brown kites
clrcling in the sunlight: such Is the sense Of
lonely mmensity gets from these limit
less fields. with their unbroken horizon under the
arch Of the blue. Yet in this district. and in many
others round IT, the population Is 800 TO the square
mile In Behar II IL more, population ~ tens
Of millions living with only n square mile or less
for a thousand Of them. and this without a single
considerable city; only villages villages, unnum-
bered. hiding under the palms and bamboos. whore
the trees gather in. into little groups.
IRRIGATING THE RICE FIELDS
Nearly all these villagers live by agriculture; the
thousand OF them dividing their square mile Of
W n
between them. partly to mark the margins Of their
tenancy partly 10 guide the streams OF irrigating
waters. Here IL tho most important factor In their
lives, the source OF all their meagre we-being
and now. when the rains havo failed the cause OF
want restitution. starvation. For the rains come
only at one season. while the rice. thrstiest OF the
plants OF the field. needs water abundanty. almost
up TO the time Of the winter harvest So the VII
lagcrs make huge reservoirs tanks. raised by
embankments above the level OF their fields. and
with wide sloping sides where the torrents Of the
tropical monsoon collect from June till September
From the reservoir runs n network OF little canals
winding their way through tho fields. and with
lesser streamlots in each OF them so that every
plant may be abundantly supplied: the brown
skinned cutivators toiling necessarily. almost
naked. but for Join cloth. in the fierce heat Of
the long Indian day Every little channel In It's
turn has to be opened and cleared oil weeds car
ried away while barefoot directs the water to
the roots OF the rice plants and this work must be
carried day by day until tho winter harvest at
the winter sostice.
When the tank runs low, the water must he
lifted up to the level OF the highest canal by an
Old World implement, which Is nothing but q huge
ladle, made from the broad stem OF a palm tree,
and turning on a axle over the water Of the tank
Laboriously altogether by hand labor. the water IL
lifted up bucketful at time. and IN this way
all the fields Of the village must be watored day
by day as The rice grows green. taller and taller
the fall OF the year draws in. By such toll a.
this. II all goes well. each Of these cultvators may
hope for a few handfuls Of rice each day for him
self and his dusky family and the few lean coins
which the dark-skinned millions pay to the treat
taxmaster Of ALL the British Indian Government
for the privilege of half-starved life. and the
protection Of their mud huts and rice fields
peria power. the decorated hierarchy OF officials
the red army OF occupation, and other matters that
a queer satire on their pinched lives and chronic
poverty, which they might smile over a little bit.
in the gray of the morning: But they SEQ nothing
OF all his pomp; know nothing Of II, do not even
whole world ID is their own horizon: with rs palm
trees and blue OF mist out Of Which tho
the gods are spiteful. A hard world enough. they
them arc re hungry their Whole lives long in spe Of
all this tillage Of their narrow fields.
FAMINE IN THE LAND
But sometimes things go not we'll at ALL but very
Ill. For the white rainclouds Of July and August,
that should bring abundance Of water. and fll all
the tanks to the brim. drift by without break
ing through the hot summer days: and when the
time comes to water the ricefelds there Is no water
to I'LL the channels. only little string OF muddy
pools where the villagers battle. and then drink
tine be they have saa re IN ipr IS tns
from theirs, since the world was young Then there
Is gradual Prth 81 dfsaa n ana nopees
haggard In the reed-thatched huts, or around tho
Of the big nss y s sua he an ss
their fear. but rather submissive and resigned; %
sentiment Indeed these poor folk have stood on the
they ape sHrunken and bent ard can ind no force
IN their breasts to cry out aloud when they suffer
le and their bodies. haf-burned. or not burned At
ALL wood Is too costly are tossed into the rivers.
vultures. And that Is the end.
FAMINE RELIEF
They have lived much like this since the world
was young, these brown tillers OF the brown feldA
Indian history has nothing TO say about themJ
they have not helped to make IL. and know noth-
ing OF II beyond the occasional and giraffe
changing Of their taxgatherers. with a nearer CT
less near approach to the famine limit: for tho
rest they are half-starved all the time. For tens
OF thousands OF years now and very likely for
have lived there In villages such as have been
pictured. their whole souls filed with the Thought
VI their ri'tiri"s thc Suihftl udiFtSt, the great
winter harvest. the rains and the failure OF the
rains: that ~ the unchanging background of tho
picture which depends all else; their pale love-
making. their brown wives and babies. their little
sins, their timid thefts and quarrels where both
combatants bear all their wounds on their backs,
and half OF these painted black and blue TO make
trouble I'm the law courts
With these countless millions OF withered. dried
up folk. a brown thousand OF them 10 every
square mile Of rice field. and n steady growth .
numbers year by year, watching for tho summer
transforms. and starving II these fall with q
problem such as this no Government can do any
thing OF tho slightest real value They cannot
compel tho rains to break: they cannot thin the
thousand on each square mile or stretch the mile
TO two; they cannot dole out food to n hundred
millions for n year. even II few handouts will
satisfy each The life OF these villagers absolutely
governed by the climate; the area OF cultivabis
land. the laws or population. VIII 20 on quite un.
changed TIL the world grows old. as u has gone
on since the earth was young-just trembling
the verge OF want from generation to generation.