The Florence tribune., 1900-03-03
lNDIA's GREAT FAMINE.
Despite her Twenty Million Acres of irr- gated Lands, Thousands Will
 Stawe Through Lack of
Water.

Water.
 India is again confronted with the misery of great famine, and England, even with disastrous war in South Africa upon her hands, will have to stretch forth strong arm to help the suffering millions of her far Eastern peninsula. Over 50,0O0,000 souls are now reported to be affected by the famine, and with the famine area rapidly expanding. A London dis patch states that the sum of 8,700, 600 will be expended on relief works" and that already over 5000, ,000 persons are receiving relief. Water, or rather it's lack, is the cause of the afhiction. This year both the monsoons and the winter rains failed and left ske earth parched and dry for months.
 Yet the English, by their public works in India and their great irri- gation projects. have vastly added to the producing capacity of the country and have greatly ameliorated the natural condition of the native. The products from irrigation for last year, according to the Indian official figures, amounted to 45O, ,0O0, ,00J rupees.
 NATURES AIGHTHsT WORKS.
 India includes within her borders the highest mountains in the world and some of the mightiest rivers and greatest plains. The.gre Himalsyan range, 1,500 miles long, lying across the. northern border, shuts out the rest of Asia. Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world, pierces the sky 29, ,002, feet above the tides, while peaks over 0,0oAfest elevation abound in all parts of the range. There are numerous well worn trails leading from India across the Himalayas through Kashmeer and Nepal into Thihet and China, and the passes on these are from 6,00O to 19,0O0 feet high. In making such a journey the traveller for several days remains above 5000 feet altitude. Only one pass is as low as 400 feet.
 The historic Ganges, the Indus and the Brahmaputra are the three great rivers of India These with their affluents drain an area of nearly 900,- 900 square miles. Their waters are largely used for irrigation, constitut- ing in reality the life blood of much of the country. The food discharges of these great streams are enormous. The Ganges alone, in flood, may dis charge ,350, 900 cubic feet per second.
 HEAVIEST RAINFALL.
 India's rainfall, which is accountable for this immense volume of water, comes exclusively from evaporation from the Indian Ocean and the bays on either side of the. peninsula. The dis tribution of this rainfall is extremely varied, ranging from couple of inches a year, or in some sections practically nothing, to over 600 inches, which falls in a limited area in Assam. At Chars Fungi, Assam, the maximum rainfall of the world is reached in an average annual precipitation of 268 inches whileat this place in 1861, thirtyinchel fell in 24 hours and 305 inches fell dur ing that year. These figures can b, appreciated when it is remembered that the annual rainfall in the Atlantis States, on the American seaboard, i from B to 45 inches, and that in tn West farming. is conducted withou irrigation on as low an annual rainfall as 15 or IS inches.
 sTUPENDoUs IRRIGATION WORKS.
 The irrigation works of India ar the vastest in the world, watering owe 20,000,000 acres of very fertile soil The government has entire contro over all sources of water supply and S exercises it as to make it the greates Each province has separate depar ment known as the irrigation bra ncl at the head of which is 8 chief engir ger, while over all the chief engineer is an inspector-general of irrigation The Indian government is great in favor of the extension pf irrig; : tion works. It fosters the use of irr gation waters by placing the, wat E rates very low or by even giving u water away in years, of scarcity. IT 2 Indian irrigation works have general < been of the most substantial and i destrucible character, of solid mason and great strength. In some instanc