Amador ledger., 1900-03-09
!ND|A'S GREAT FAMINE
Thousands Will Starve From
Lack of Water.
INtsTr MILLION ACRES OF IRRIGATED LANDS
The Boer War Occupying England's
Attention and Treasure Is
Disadvantage to India.


Africa upon her hands, will have to
stretch forth strong arm to help the
suffering millions of her far eastern
peninsula. Over $4,000, 600 souls are
now reported to be affected by the
famine, and with the famine area rap
idly expanding. A London dispatch
states that the sum of SO, 700. 900 will be
expended on 'srelief works. and that
already over 1900, 900 persons are re-
ceivlng relief. Water, or rather its
lack, is the cause of the aftliction.
This year both the monsoons and the
winter rains failed and left the earth
parched and dry for months.
Yet the English by their public
works in India and their great irriga-
tion projects have vastly added to the
producing capacity OF the country and
have greatly ameliorated the natural
condition of the natives. The pro-
ducts from irrigation for last year, ac-
cording to the Indian official figures,
amounted to $50, 900, 600 rupees.
NATURES MIGHTIEST WORKS.
India includes within her borders the
highest mountains in the world and
some of the mightiest rivers and great
est plains. The great Himalayan range
l,500 miles long, lying across the north
ern 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 90
600 feet 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 Thibet and China, and the
passes on these are from Is, 900 to
I9, 600 feet high. In making such a
Journey the traveller for several days
remains above 10000 feet altitude.
Only one pass is as low as Is, 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, 600
so uare miles. Their waters are largely
used for irrigation, constituting 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 discharge
!, $50, 600 cubic feet per second.
HEAVIEST RAINFALL IN THE WORLD
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 prac-
tically nothing, to over. 600 inches,
which falls in a limited area in Assam.
At Chara Pungi, Assam, the maximum
rainfall of the world is reached in an
average annual precipitation of 1863
inches, while at this place in 1861,
thirty inches fell in "a hours and 305
inches fell during that year. These
figures can be appreciated when it is
rememb bered that the annual rainfall
in the Atlantic States on the American
seaboard, is from 30 to IS inches and
that in the West. farming is conducted
without irrigation on as low an annual
rainfall as Is or 18 inches.
sTUPENDoUs IRRIGATION WORKS.
The irrigation works of India are
the vastest in the world, watering over
20, 900, 600 acres of very fertile soil. The
government has entire control over all
sources of water supply and so exer-
cises it as to make it the greatest bene-
fit to the community at large. Each
province has separate department
known as the irrigation branch, at the
head of which is chief engineer, while
over all the chief engineers is an in
spector-general of irrigation. The
Indian government is greatly in favor
of the extension of irrigation works
It fosters the use OF irrigation waters
by placing the water rates very low or
by even giving the water away in
years of scarcity. The Indian irriga-
tion works have generally been of the
most substantial and indestructible
character, of solid masonry and great
strength. In some instances canals of
immense volumes of water are carried
clear over other rivers.
There are in India two classes of
irrigation works which may be termed
productive and protective works. In
general, protective works have been
constructed as protection against
famine, such as now stares India in the
face, and they act in the amelioration
of such disasters in two ways. First,
they are constructed during famine
times to give employment to the people
and furnish them money and food for
their sustenance; and second, after
their construction, they are expected
to furnish protection against future
famines in those districts. Most of
| these protective works consist of stor-
age reservoirs, but they have been
constructed in regions semi-arid, and
they have generally proven financial
| failures while the so-called "prOduct-
i've" works have earned good interest
on the Investment. From all of which
we can learn lesson applicable to
America IS arid west. The productive
works have been constructed in arid
regions so barren and devoid of water
that nobody could live there to pro-
duce crops of any sort without irriga-
ton, therefore those who immigrated
to the country were compelled to use
the water and make the works do full
duty. On the other hand the protect
i've works have been built in semi-arid
regions where crops can often be raised
under the natural rainfall, so that the
works have been in entire disuse
through some seasons.
Anywhere in our arid west, where
irrigation works can be constructed it
is reasonable to suppose, therefore,
judging from analogy, that when a
sufficient population settle below them,
the works will be called upon to supply
their full capacity, and if they have
been carefully planned and estimated
for, economically constructed and ad-
ministered under proper system,
they should return fair interest on the
original outlay.
1t has been in our semi-humid region
of the United States where there are
naturally good crops once in several
years that hard times have fallen the