No intelligent reader can advance fifty pages in this volume without becoming aware that he has got hold of a very remarkable2 book. Mr. Hunter’s style, to begin with, is such as is written only by men of large calibre and high culture. No words are wasted. The narrative3 flows calmly and powerfully along, like a geometrical demonstration4, omitting nothing which is significant, admitting nothing which is irrelevant5, glowing with all the warmth of rich imagination and sympathetic genius, yet never allowing any overt6 manifestation7 of feeling, ever concealing8 the author’s personality beneath the unswerving exposition of the subject-matter. That highest art, which conceals9 art, Mr. Hunter appears to have learned well. With him, the curtain is the picture.
Such a style as this would suffice to make any book interesting, in spite of the remoteness of the subject. But the “Annals of Rural Bengal” do not concern us so remotely as one might at first imagine. The phenomena10 of the moral and industrial growth or stagnation11 of a highly-endowed people must ever possess the interest of fascination12 for those who take heed13 of the maxim14 that “history is philosophy teaching by example.” National prosperity depends upon circumstances sufficiently15 general to make the experience of one country of great value to another, though ignorant Bourbon dynasties and Rump Congresses refuse to learn the lesson. It is of the intimate every-day life of rural Bengal that Mr. Hunter treats. He does not, like old historians, try our patience with a bead-roll of names that have earned no just title to remembrance, or dazzle us with a bountiful display of “barbaric pearls and gold,” or lead us in the gondolas16 of Buddhist17 kings down sacred rivers, amid “a summer fanned with spice”; but he describes the labours and the sufferings, the mishaps18 and the good fortune, of thirty millions of people, who, however dusky may be their hue19, tanned by the tropical suns of fifty centuries, are nevertheless members of the imperial Aryan race, descended20 from the cool highlands eastward21 of the Caspian, where, long before the beginning of recorded history, their ancestors and those of the Anglo-American were indistinguishably united in the same primitive22 community.
The narrative portion of the present volume is concerned mainly with the social and economical disorganization wrought23 by the great famine of 1770, and with the attempts of the English government to remedy the same. The remainder of the book is occupied with inquiries24 into the ethnic1 character of the population of Bengal, and particularly with an exposition of the peculiarities26 of the language, religion, customs, and institutions of the Santals, or hill-tribes of Beerbhoom. A few remarks on the first of these topics may not be uninteresting.
Throughout the entire course of recorded European history, from the remote times of which the Homeric poems preserve the dim tradition down to the present moment, there has occurred no calamity27 at once so sudden and of such appalling28 magnitude as the famine which in the spring and summer of 1770 nearly exterminated29 the ancient civilization of Bengal. It presents that aspect of preternatural vastness which characterizes the continent of Asia and all that concerns it. The Black Death of the fourteenth century was, perhaps, the most fearful visitation which has ever afflicted30 the Western world. But in the concentrated misery31 which it occasioned the Bengal famine surpassed it, even as the Himalayas dwarf32 by comparison the highest peaks of Switzerland. It is, moreover, the key to the history of Bengal during the next forty years; and as such, merits, from an economical point of view, closer attention than it has hitherto received.
Lower Bengal gathers in three harvests each year; in the spring, in the early autumn, and in December, the last being the great rice-crop, the harvest on which the sustenance33 of the people depends. Through the year 1769 there was great scarcity34, owing to the partial failure of the crops of 1768, but the spring rains appeared to promise relief, and in spite of the warning appeals of provincial35 officers, the government was slow to take alarm, and continued rigorously to enforce the land-tax. But in September the rains suddenly ceased. Throughout the autumn there ruled a parching36 drought; and the rice-fields, according to the description of a native superintendent37 of Bishenpore, “became like fields of dried straw.” Nevertheless, the government at Calcutta made — with one lamentable38 exception, hereafter to be noticed — no legislative39 attempt to meet the consequences of this dangerous condition of things. The administration of local affairs was still, at that date, intrusted to native officials. The whole internal regulation was in the hands of the famous Muhamad Reza Ehan. Hindu or Mussulman assessors pried40 into every barn and shrewdly estimated the probable dimensions of the crops on every field; and the courts, as well as the police, were still in native hands. “These men,” says our author, “knew the country, its capabilities41, its average yield, and its average requirements, with an accuracy that the most painstaking42 English official can seldom hope to attain43 to. They had a strong interest in representing things to be worse than they were; for the more intense the scarcity, the greater the merit in collecting the land-tax. Every consultation44 is filled with their apprehensions45 and highly-coloured accounts of the public distress46; but it does not appear that the conviction entered the minds of the Council during the previous winter months, that the question was not so much one of revenue as of depopulation.” In fact, the local officers had cried “Wolf!” too often. Government was slow to believe them, and announced that nothing better could be expected than the adoption47 of a generous policy toward those landholders whom the loss of harvest had rendered unable to pay their land-tax. But very few indulgences were granted, and the tax was not diminished, but on the contrary was, in the month of April, 1770, increased by ten per cent for the following year. The character of the Bengali people must also be taken into the account in explaining this strange action on the part of the government.
“From the first appearance of Lower Bengal in history, its inhabitants have been reticent48, self-contained, distrustful of foreign observation, in a degree without parallel among other equally civilized49 nations. The cause of this taciturnity will afterwards be clearly explained; but no one who is acquainted either with the past experiences or the present condition of the people can be ignorant of its results. Local officials may write alarming reports, but their apprehensions seem to be contradicted by the apparent quiet that prevails. Outward, palpable proofs of suffering are often wholly wanting; and even when, as in 1770, such proofs abound50, there is generally no lack of evidence on the other side. The Bengali bears existence with a composure that neither accident nor chance can ruffle51. He becomes silently rich or uncomplainingly poor. The emotional part of his nature is in strict subjection, his resentment52 enduring but unspoken, his gratitude53 of the sort that silently descends54 from generation to generation. The. passion for privacy reaches its climax55 in the domestic relations. An outer apartment, in even the humblest households, is set apart for strangers and the transaction of business, but everything behind it is a mystery. The most intimate friend does not venture to make those commonplace kindly57 inquiries about a neighbour’s wife or daughter which European courtesy demands from mere58 acquaintances. This family privacy is maintained at any price. During the famine of 1866 it was found impossible to render public charity available to the female members of the respectable classes, and many a rural household starved slowly to death without uttering a complaint or making a sign.
“All through the stifling59 summer of 1770 the people went on dying. The husbandmen sold their cattle; they sold their implements60 of agriculture; they devoured61 their seed-grain; they sold their sons and daughters, till at length no buyer of children could be found; they ate the leaves of trees and the grass of the field; and in June, 1770, the Resident at the Durbar affirmed that the living were feeding on the dead. Day and night a torrent62 of famished63 and disease-stricken wretches64 poured into the great cities. At an early period of the year pestilence65 had broken out. In March we find small-pox at Moorshedabad, where it glided66 through the vice-regal mutes, and cut off the Prince Syfut in his palace. The streets were blocked up with promiscuous67 heaps of the dying and dead. Interment could not do its work quick enough; even the dogs and jackals, the public scavengers of the East, became unable to accomplish their revolting work, and the multitude of mangled68 and festering corpses69 at length threatened the existence of the citizens. . . . . In 1770, the rainy season brought relief, and before the end of September the province reaped an abundant harvest. But the relief came too late to avert70 depopulation. Starving and shelterless crowds crawled despairingly from one deserted71 village to another in a vain search for food, or a resting-place in which to hide themselves from the rain. The epidemics72 incident to the season were thus spread over the whole country; and, until the close of the year, disease continued so prevalent as to form a subject of communication from the government in Bengal to the Court of Directors. Millions of famished wretches died in the struggle to live through the few intervening weeks that separated them from the harvest, their last gaze being probably fixed74 on the densely-covered fields that would ripen76 only a little too late for them. . . . . Three months later, another bountiful harvest, the great rice-crop of the year, was gathered in. Abundance returned to Bengal as suddenly as famine had swooped77 down upon it, and in reading some of the manuscript records of December it is difficult to realize that the scenes of the preceding ten months have not been hideous78 phantasmagoria or a long, troubled dream. On Christmas eve, the Council in Calcutta wrote home to the Court of Directors that the scarcity had entirely79 ceased, and, incredible as it may seem, that unusual plenty had returned. . . . . So generous had been the harvest that the government proposed at once to lay in its military stores for the ensuing year, and expected to obtain them at a very cheap rate.”
Such sudden transitions from the depths of misery to the most exuberant80 plenty are by no means rare in the history of Asia, where the various centres of civilization are, in an economical sense, so isolated81 from each other that the welfare of the population is nearly always absolutely dependent on the irregular: and apparently82 capricious bounty83 of nature. For the three years following the dreadful misery above described, harvests of unprecedented84 abundance were gathered in. Yet how inadequate85 they were to repair the fearful damage wrought by six months of starvation, the history of the next quarter of a century too plainly reveals. “Plenty had indeed returned,” says our annalist, “but it had returned to a silent and deserted province.” The extent of the depopulation is to our Western imaginations almost incredible. During those six months of horror, more than TEN MILLIONS of people had perished! It was as if the entire population of our three or four largest States — man, woman, and child — were to be utterly86 swept away between now and next August, leaving the region between the Hudson and Lake Michigan as quiet and deathlike as the buried streets of Pompeii. Yet the estimate is based upon most accurate and trustworthy official returns; and Mr. Hunter may well say that “it represents an aggregate87 of individual suffering which no European nation has been called upon to contemplate88 within historic times.”
This unparalleled calamity struck down impartially89 the rich and the poor. The old, aristocratic families of Lower Bengal were irretrievably ruined. The Rajah of Burdwan, whose possessions were so vast that, travel as far as he would, he always slept under a roof of his own and within his own jurisdiction91, died in such indigence92 that his son had to melt down the family plate and beg a loan from the government in order to discharge his father’s funeral expenses. And our author gives other similar instances. The wealthy natives who were appointed to assess and collect the internal revenue, being unable to raise the sums required by the government, were in many cases imprisoned93, or their estates were confiscated94 and re-let in order to discharge the debt.
For fifteen years the depopulation went on increasing. The children in a community, requiring most nourishment95 to sustain their activity, are those who soonest succumb96 to famine. “Until 1785,” says our author, “the old died off without there being any rising generation to step into their places.” From lack of cultivators, one third of the surface of Bengal fell out of tillage and became waste land. The landed proprietors98 began each “to entice99 away the tenants100 of his neighbour, by offering protection against judicial101 proceedings102, and farms at very low rents.” The disputes and deadly feuds103 which arose from this practice were, perhaps, the least fatal of the evil results which flowed from it. For the competition went on until, the tenants obtaining their holdings at half-rates, the resident cultivators — who had once been the wealthiest farmers in the country — were no longer able to complete on such terms. They began to sell, lease, or desert their property, migrating to less afflicted regions, or flying to the hills on the frontier to adopt a savage104 life. But, in a climate like that of Northeastern India, it takes but little time to transform a tract105 of untilled land into formidable wilderness106. When the functions of society are impeded107, nature is swift to assert its claims. And accordingly, in 1789, “Lord Cornwallis after three years’ vigilant108 inquiry109, pronounced one third of the company’s territories in Bengal to be a jungle, inhabited only by wild beasts.”
On the Western frontier of Beerbhoom the state of affairs was, perhaps, most calamitous110. In 1776, four acres out of every seven remained untilled. Though in earlier times this district had been a favourite highway for armies, by the year 1780 it had become an almost impassable jungle. A small company of Sepoys, which in that year by heroic exertions111 forced its way through, was obliged to traverse 120 miles of trackless forest, swarming112 with tigers and black shaggy bears. In 1789 this jungle “continued so dense75 as to shut off all communication between the two most important towns, and to cause the mails to be carried by a circuit of fifty miles through another district.”
Such a state of things it is difficult for us to realize; but the monotonous113 tale of disaster and suffering is not yet complete. Beerbhoom was, to all intents and purposes, given over to tigers. “A belt of jungle, filled with wild beasts, formed round each village.” At nightfall the hungry animals made their dreaded114 incursions carrying away cattle, and even women and children, and devouring115 them. “The official records frequently speak of the mail-bag being carried off by wild beasts.” So great was the damage done by these depredations116, that “the company offered a reward for each tiger’s head, sufficient to maintain a peasant’s family in comfort for three months; an item of expenditure118 it deemed so necessary, that, when under extraordinary pressure it had to suspend all payments, the tiger-money and diet allowance for prisoners were the sole exceptions to the rule.” Still more formidable foes119 were found in the herds120 of wild elephants, which came trooping along in the rear of the devastation121 caused by the famine. In the course of a few years fifty-six villages were reported as destroyed by elephants, and as having lapsed122 into jungle in consequence; “and an official return states that forty market-towns throughout the district had been deserted from the same cause. In many parts of the country the peasantry did not dare to sleep in their houses, lest they should be buried beneath them during the night.” These terrible beasts continued to infest123 the province as late as 1810.
But society during these dark days had even worse enemies than tigers and elephants. The barbarous highlanders, of a lower type of mankind, nourishing for forty centuries a hatred124 of their Hindu supplanters, like that which the Apache bears against the white frontiersman, seized the occasion to renew their inroads upon the lowland country. Year by year they descended from their mountain fastnesses, plundering125 and burning. Many noble Hindu families, ousted127 by the tax-collectors from their estates, began to seek subsistence from robbery. Others, consulting their selfish interests amid the general distress, “found it more profitable to shelter banditti on their estates, levying128 blackmail129 from the surrounding villages as the price of immunity130 from depredation117, and sharing in the plunder126 of such as would not come to terms. Their country houses were robber strongholds, and the early English administrators131 of Bengal have left it on record that a gang-robbery never occurred without a landed proprietor97 being at the bottom of it.” The peasants were not slow to follow suit, and those who were robbed of their winter’s store had no alternative left but to become robbers themselves. The thieveries of the Fakeers, or religious mendicants, and the bold, though stealthy attacks of Thugs and Dacoits — members of Masonic brotherhoods132, which at all times have lived by robbery and assassination133 — added to the general turmoil134. In the cold weather of 1772 the province was ravaged135 far and wide by bands of armed freebooters, fifty thousand strong; and to such a pass did things arrive that the regular forces sent by Warren Hastings to preserve order were twice disastrously136 routed; while, in Mr. Hunter’s graphic138 language, “villages high up the Ganges lived by housebreaking in Calcutta.” In English mansions139 “it was the invariable practice for the porter to shut the outer door at the commencement of each meal, and not to open it till the butler brought him word that the plate was safely locked up.” And for a long time nearly all traffic ceased upon the imperial roads.
This state of things, which amounted to chronic140 civil war, induced Lord Cornwallis in 1788 to place the province under the direct military control of an English officer. The administration of Mr. Keating — the first hardy141 gentleman to whom this arduous142 office was assigned — is minutely described by our author. For our present purpose it is enough to note that two years of severe campaigning, attended and followed by relentless143 punishment of all transgressors, was required to put an end to the disorders144.
Such was the appalling misery, throughout a community of thirty million persons, occasioned by the failure of the winter rice-crop in 1769. In abridging145 Mr. Hunter’s account we have adhered as closely to our original as possible, but he who would obtain adequate knowledge of this tale of woe146 must seek it in the ever memorable147 description of the historian himself. The first question which naturally occurs to the reader — though, as Mr. Hunter observes, it would have been one of the last to occur to the Oriental mind — is, Who was to blame? To what culpable148 negligence149 was it due that such a dire73 calamity was not foreseen, and at least partially90 warded150 off? We shall find reason to believe that it could not have been adequately foreseen, and that no legislative measures could in that state of society have entirely prevented it. Yet it will appear that the government, with the best of intentions, did all in its power to make matters worse; and that to its blundering ignorance the distress which followed is largely due.
The first duty incumbent151 upon the government in a case like that of the failure of the winter rice-crop of 1769, was to do away with all hindrance152 to the importation of food into the province. One chief cause of the far-reaching distress wrought by great Asiatic famines has been the almost complete commercial isolation153 of Asiatic communities. In the Middle Ages the European communities were also, though to a far less extent, isolated from each other, and in those days periods of famine were comparatively frequent and severe. And one of the chief causes which now render the occurrence of a famine on a great scale almost impossible in any part of the civilized world is the increased commercial solidarity154 of civilized nations. Increased facility of distribution has operated no less effectively than improved methods of production.
Now, in 1770 the province of Lower Bengal was in a state of almost complete commercial isolation from other communities. Importation of food on an adequate scale was hardly possible. “A single fact speaks volumes as to the isolation of each district. An abundant harvest, we are repeatedly told, was as disastrous137 to the revenues as a bad one; for, when a large quantity of grain had to be carried to market, the cost of carriage swallowed up the price obtained. Indeed, even if the means of intercommunication and transport had rendered importation practicable, the province had at that time no money to give in exchange for food. Not only had its various divisions a separate currency which would pass nowhere else except at a ruinous exchange, but in that unfortunate year Bengal seems to have been utterly drained of its specie. . . . . The absence of the means of importation was the more to be deplored155, as the neighbouring districts could easily have supplied grain. In the southeast a fair harvest had been reaped, except, in circumscribed156 spots; and we are assured that, during the famine, this part of Bengal was enabled to export without having to complain of any deficiency in consequence. . . . . INDEED, NO MATTER HOW LOCAL A FAMINE MIGHT BE IN THE LAST CENTURY, THE EFFECTS WERE EQUALLY DISASTROUS. Sylhet, a district in the northeast of Bengal, had reaped unusually plentiful157 harvests in 1780 and 1781, but the next crop was destroyed by a local inundation158, and, notwithstanding the facilities for importation afforded by water-carriage, one third of the people died.”
Here we have a vivid representation of the economic condition of a society which, however highly civilized in many important respects, still retained, at the epoch159 treated of, its aboriginal160 type of organization. Here we see each community brought face to face with the impossible task of supplying, unaided, the deficiencies of nature. We see one petty district a prey161 to the most frightful162 destitution163, even while profuse164 plenty reigns165 in the districts round about it. We find an almost complete absence of the commercial machinery166 which, by enabling the starving region to be fed out of the surplus of more favoured localities, has in the most advanced countries rendered a great famine practically impossible.
Now this state of things the government of 1770 was indeed powerless to remedy. Legislative power and wisdom could not anticipate the invention of railroads; nor could it introduce throughout the length and breadth of Bengal a system of coaches, canals, and caravans167; nor could it all at once do away with the time-honoured brigandage168, which increased the cost of transport by decreasing the security of it; nor could it in a trice remove the curse of a heterogeneous169 coinage. None, save those uninstructed agitators170 who believe that governments can make water run up-hill, would be disposed to find fault with the authorities in Bengal for failing to cope with these difficulties. But what we are to blame them for — though it was an error of the judgment171 and not of the intentions — is their mischievous172 interference with the natural course of trade, by which, instead of helping174 matters, they but added another to the many powerful causes which were conspiring175 to bring about the economic ruin of Bengal. We refer to the act which in 1770 prohibited under penalties all speculation176 in rice.
This disastrous piece of legislation was due to the universal prevalence of a prejudice from which so-called enlightened communities are not yet wholly free. It is even now customary to heap abuse upon those persons who in a season of scarcity, when prices are rapidly rising, buy up the “necessaries of life,” thereby177 still increasing for a time the cost of living. Such persons are commonly assailed178 with specious179 generalities to the effect that they are enemies of society. People whose only ideas are “moral ideas” regard them as heartless sharpers who fatten180 upon the misery of their fellow-creatures. And it is sometimes hinted that such “practices” ought to be stopped by legislation.
Now, so far is this prejudice, which is a very old one, from being justified181 by facts, that, instead of being an evil, speculation in breadstuffs and other necessaries is one of the chief agencies by which in modern times and civilized countries a real famine is rendered almost impossible. This natural monopoly operates in two ways. In the first place, by raising prices, it checks consumption, putting every one on shorter allowance until the season of scarcity is over, and thus prevents the scarcity from growing into famine. In the second place, by raising prices, it stimulates182 importation from those localities where abundance reigns and prices are low. It thus in the long run does much to equalize the pressure of a time of dearth184 and diminish those extreme oscillations of prices which interfere173 with the even, healthy course of trade. A government which, in a season of high prices, does anything to check such speculation, acts about as sagely185 as the skipper of a wrecked186 vessel187 who should refuse to put his crew upon half rations188.
The turning-point of the great Dutch Revolution, so far as it concerned the provinces which now constitute Belgium, was the famous siege and capture of Antwerp by Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma. The siege was a long one, and the resistance obstinate189, and the city would probably not have been captured if famine had not come to the assistance of the besiegers. It is interesting, therefore, to inquire what steps the civic190 authorities had taken to prevent such a calamity. They knew that the struggle before them was likely to be the life-and-death struggle of the Southern Netherlands; they knew that there was risk of their being surrounded so that relief from without would be impossible; they knew that their assailant was one of the most astute191 and unconquerable of men, by far the greatest general of the sixteenth century. Therefore they proceeded to do just what our Republican Congress, under such circumstances, would probably have done, and just what the New York Tribune, if it had existed in those days, would have advised them to do. Finding that sundry192 speculators were accumulating and hoarding193 up provisions in anticipation194 of a season of high prices, they hastily decided195, first of all to put a stop to such “selfish iniquity196.” In their eyes the great thing to be done was to make things cheap. They therefore affixed197 a very low maximum price to everything which could be eaten, and prescribed severe penalties for all who should attempt to take more than the sum by law decreed. If a baker198 refused to sell his bread for a price which would have been adequate only in a time of great plenty, his shop was to be broken open, and his loaves distributed among the populace. The consequences of this idiotic199 policy were twofold.
In the first place, the enforced lowness of prices prevented any breadstuffs or other provisions from being brought into the city. It was a long time before Farnese succeeded in so blockading the Scheldt as to prevent ships laden200 with eatables from coming in below. Corn and preserved meats might have been hurried by thousands of tons into the beleaguered201 city. Friendly Dutch vessels202, freighted with abundance, were waiting at the mouth of the river. But all to no purpose. No merchant would expose his valuable ship, with its cargo203, to the risk of being sunk by Farnese’s batteries, merely for the sake of finding a market no better than a hundred others which could be entered without incurring204 danger. No doubt if the merchants of Holland had followed out the maxim Vivre pour autrui, they would have braved ruin and destruction rather than behold205 their neighbours of Antwerp enslaved. No doubt if they could have risen to a broad philosophic206 view of the future interests of the Netherlands, they would have seen that Antwerp must be saved, no matter if some of them were to lose money by it. But men do not yet sacrifice themselves for their fellows, nor do they as a rule look far beyond the present moment and its emergencies. And the business of government is to legislate207 for men as they are, not as it is supposed they ought to be. If provisions had brought a high price in Antwerp, they would have been carried thither208. As it was, the city, by its own stupidity, blockaded itself far more effectually than Farnese could have done it.
In the second place, the enforced lowness of prices prevented any general retrenchment209 on the part of the citizens. Nobody felt it necessary to economize210. Every one bought as much bread, and ate it as freely, as if the government by insuring its cheapness had insured its abundance. So the city lived in high spirits and in gleeful defiance211 of its besiegers, until all at once provisions gave out, and the government had to step in again to palliate the distress which it had wrought. It constituted itself quartermaster-general to the community, and doled212 out stinted213 rations alike to rich and poor, with that stern democratic impartiality214 peculiar25 to times of mortal peril215. But this served only, like most artificial palliatives, to lengthen216 out the misery. At the time of the surrender, not a loaf of bread could be obtained for love or money.
In this way a bungling217 act of legislation helped to decide for the worse a campaign which involved the territorial218 integrity and future welfare of what might have become a great nation performing a valuable function in the system of European communities.
The striking character of this instructive example must be our excuse for presenting it at such length. At the beginning of the famine in Bengal the authorities legislated219 in very much the same spirit as the burghers who had to defend Antwerp against Parma.
“By interdicting220 what it was pleased to term the monopoly of grain, it prevented prices from rising at once to their natural rates. The Province had a certain amount of food in it, and this food had to last about nine months. Private enterprise if left to itself would have stored up the general supply at the harvest, with a view to realizing a larger profit at a later period in the scarcity. Prices would in consequence have immediately risen, compelling the population to reduce their consumption from the very beginning of the dearth. The general stock would thus have been husbanded, and the pressure equally spread over the whole nine months, instead of being concentrated upon the last six. The price of grain, in place of promptly221 rising to three half-pence a pound as in 1865-66, continued at three farthings during the earlier months of the famine. During the latter ones it advanced to twopence, and in certain localities reached fourpence.”
The course taken by the great famine of 1866 well illustrates222 the above views. This famine, also, was caused by the total failure of the December rice-crop, and it was brought to a close by an abundant harvest in the succeeding year.
“Even as regards the maximum price reached, the analogy holds good, in each case rice having risen in general to nearly twopence, and in particular places to fourpence, a pound; and in each the quoted rates being for a brief period in several isolated localities merely nominal223, no food existing in the market, and money altogether losing its interchangeable value. In both the people endured silently to the end, with a fortitude224 that casual observers of a different temperament225 and widely dissimilar race may easily mistake for apathy226, but which those who lived among the sufferers are unable to distinguish from qualities that generally pass under a more honourable227 name. During 1866, when the famine was severest, I superintended public instruction throughout the southwestern division of Lower Bengal, including Orissa. The subordinate native officers, about eight hundred in number, behaved with a steadiness, and when called upon, with a self-abnegation, beyond praise. Many of them ruined their health. The touching228 scenes of self-sacrifice and humble56 heroism229 which I witnessed among the poor villagers on my tours of inspection230 will remain in my memory till my latest day.”
But to meet the famine of 1866 Bengal was equipped with railroads and canals, and better than all, with an intelligent government. Far from trying to check speculation, as in 1770, the government did all in its power to stimulate183 it. In the earlier famine one could hardly engage in the grain trade without becoming amenable231 to the law. “In 1866 respectable men in vast numbers went into the trade; for government, by publishing weekly returns of the rates in every district, rendered the traffic both easy and safe. Every one knew where to buy grain cheapest, and where to sell it dearest, and food was accordingly brought from the districts that could best spare it, and carried to those which most urgently needed it. Not only were prices equalized so far as possible throughout the stricken parts, but the publicity232 given to the high rates in Lower Bengal induced large shipments from the upper provinces, and the chief seat of the trade became unable to afford accommodation for landing the vast stores of grain brought down the river. Rice poured into the affected233 districts from all parts — railways, canals, and roads vigorously doing their duty.”
The result of this wise policy was that scarcity was heightened into famine only in one remote corner of Bengal. Orissa was commercially isolated in 1866, as the whole country had been in 1770. “As far back as the records extend, Orissa has produced more grain than it can use. It is an exporting, not an importing province, sending away its surplus grain by sea, and neither requiring nor seeking any communication with Lower Bengal by land.” Long after the rest of the province had begun to prepare for a year of famine, Orissa kept on exporting. In March, when the alarm was first raised, the southwest monsoon234 had set in, rendering235 the harbours inaccessible236. Thus the district was isolated. It was no longer possible to apply the wholesome237 policy which was operating throughout the rest of the country. The doomed238 population of Orissa, like passengers in a ship without provisions, were called upon to suffer the extremities239 of famine; and in the course of the spring and summer of 1866, some seven hundred thousand people perished.
January, 1869.
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demonstration
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irrelevant
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11
stagnation
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| n. 停滞 | |
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12
fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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13
heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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14
maxim
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| n.格言，箴言 | |
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15
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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16
gondolas
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| n.狭长小船( gondola的名词复数 )；货架（一般指商店，例如化妆品店）；吊船工作台 | |
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17
Buddhist
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| adj./n.佛教的，佛教徒 | |
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18
mishaps
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| n.轻微的事故，小的意外( mishap的名词复数 ) | |
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19
hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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20
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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21
eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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22
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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23
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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24
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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25
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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26
peculiarities
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| n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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27
calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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28
appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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29
exterminated
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| v.消灭，根绝( exterminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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30
afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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32
dwarf
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| n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小 | |
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33
sustenance
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| n.食物，粮食；生活资料；生计 | |
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34
scarcity
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| n.缺乏，不足，萧条 | |
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35
provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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36
parching
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| adj.烘烤似的，焦干似的v.（使）焦干， （使）干透( parch的现在分词 )；使（某人）极口渴 | |
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37
superintendent
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| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
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38
lamentable
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| adj.令人惋惜的，悔恨的 | |
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39
legislative
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| n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的 | |
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40
pried
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| v.打听，刺探（他人的私事）( pry的过去式和过去分词 )；撬开 | |
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41
capabilities
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| n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力 | |
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42
painstaking
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| adj.苦干的；艰苦的，费力的，刻苦的 | |
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43
attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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44
consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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45
apprehensions
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| 疑惧 | |
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46
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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47
adoption
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| n.采用，采纳，通过；收养 | |
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48
reticent
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| adj.沉默寡言的；言不如意的 | |
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49
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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50
abound
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| vi.大量存在；(in，with)充满，富于 | |
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51
ruffle
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| v.弄皱，弄乱；激怒，扰乱；n.褶裥饰边 | |
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52
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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53
gratitude
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|
| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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54
descends
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| v.下来( descend的第三人称单数 )；下去；下降；下斜 | |
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55
climax
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| n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点 | |
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56
humble
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|
| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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57
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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58
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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59
stifling
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| a.令人窒息的 | |
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60
implements
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| n.工具( implement的名词复数 )；家具；手段；[法律]履行（契约等）v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 )；执行；贯彻；使生效 | |
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61
devoured
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|
| 吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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62
torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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63
famished
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| adj.饥饿的 | |
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64
wretches
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| n.不幸的人( wretch的名词复数 )；可怜的人；恶棍；坏蛋 | |
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65
pestilence
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| n.瘟疫 | |
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66
glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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67
promiscuous
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|
| adj.杂乱的，随便的 | |
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68
mangled
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|
| vt.乱砍（mangle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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69
corpses
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|
| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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70
avert
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|
| v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等) | |
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71
deserted
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|
| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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72
epidemics
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| n．流行病 | |
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73
dire
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|
| adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的 | |
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74
fixed
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|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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75
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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76
ripen
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|
| vt.使成熟；vi.成熟 | |
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77
swooped
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| 俯冲，猛冲( swoop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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78
hideous
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|
| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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79
entirely
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|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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80
exuberant
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|
| adj.充满活力的；（植物）繁茂的 | |
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81
isolated
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|
| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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82
apparently
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|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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83
bounty
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|
| n.慷慨的赠予物，奖金；慷慨，大方；施与 | |
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84
unprecedented
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|
| adj.无前例的，新奇的 | |
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85
inadequate
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|
| adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的 | |
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86
utterly
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|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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87
aggregate
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|
| adj.总计的，集合的；n.总数；v.合计；集合 | |
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88
contemplate
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|
| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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89
impartially
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|
| adv.公平地，无私地 | |
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90
partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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91
jurisdiction
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| n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权 | |
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92
indigence
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| n.贫穷 | |
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93
imprisoned
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|
| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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94
confiscated
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| 没收，充公( confiscate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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95
nourishment
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|
| n.食物，营养品；营养情况 | |
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96
succumb
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| v.屈服，屈从；死 | |
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97
proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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98
proprietors
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| n.所有人，业主( proprietor的名词复数 ) | |
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99
entice
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| v.诱骗，引诱，怂恿 | |
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100
tenants
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| n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者 | |
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101
judicial
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| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
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102
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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103
feuds
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| n.长期不和，世仇( feud的名词复数 ) | |
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104
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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105
tract
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| n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林) | |
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106
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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107
impeded
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| 阻碍，妨碍，阻止( impede的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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108
vigilant
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| adj.警觉的，警戒的，警惕的 | |
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109
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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110
calamitous
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| adj.灾难的，悲惨的；多灾多难；惨重 | |
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111
exertions
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| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
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112
swarming
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| 密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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113
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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114
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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115
devouring
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| 吞没( devour的现在分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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116
depredations
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| n.劫掠，毁坏( depredation的名词复数 ) | |
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117
depredation
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| n.掠夺，蹂躏 | |
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118
expenditure
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| n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗 | |
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119
foes
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| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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120
herds
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| 兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众 | |
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121
devastation
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| n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤 | |
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122
lapsed
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|
| adj.流失的，堕落的v.退步( lapse的过去式和过去分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失 | |
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123
infest
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| v.大批出没于；侵扰；寄生于 | |
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124
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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125
plundering
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| 掠夺，抢劫( plunder的现在分词 ) | |
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126
plunder
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| vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠 | |
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127
ousted
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| 驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺 | |
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128
levying
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| 征（兵）( levy的现在分词 )； 索取； 发动（战争）； 征税 | |
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129
blackmail
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| n.讹诈，敲诈，勒索，胁迫，恫吓 | |
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130
immunity
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| n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权 | |
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131
administrators
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| n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 )；有管理（或行政）才能的人；（由遗嘱检验法庭指定的）遗产管理人；奉派暂管主教教区的牧师 | |
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132
brotherhoods
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| 兄弟关系( brotherhood的名词复数 )； （总称）同行； （宗教性的）兄弟会； 同业公会 | |
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133
assassination
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| n.暗杀；暗杀事件 | |
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134
turmoil
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| n.骚乱，混乱，动乱 | |
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135
ravaged
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| 毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫 | |
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136
disastrously
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| ad.灾难性地 | |
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137
disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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138
graphic
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| adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的 | |
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139
mansions
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| n.宅第，公馆，大厦( mansion的名词复数 ) | |
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140
chronic
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| adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的 | |
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141
hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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142
arduous
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| adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的 | |
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143
relentless
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| adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的 | |
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144
disorders
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| n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调 | |
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145
abridging
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| 节略( abridge的现在分词 )； 减少； 缩短； 剥夺（某人的）权利（或特权等） | |
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146
woe
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| n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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147
memorable
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| adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的 | |
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148
culpable
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| adj.有罪的，该受谴责的 | |
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149
negligence
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| n.疏忽，玩忽，粗心大意 | |
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150
warded
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| 有锁孔的，有钥匙榫槽的 | |
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151
incumbent
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| adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的 | |
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152
hindrance
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| n.妨碍，障碍 | |
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153
isolation
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| n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离 | |
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154
solidarity
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| n.团结；休戚相关 | |
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155
deplored
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| v.悲叹，痛惜，强烈反对( deplore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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156
circumscribed
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| adj.[医]局限的：受限制或限于有限空间的v.在…周围划线( circumscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；划定…范围；限制；限定 | |
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157
plentiful
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| adj.富裕的，丰富的 | |
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158
inundation
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| n.the act or fact of overflowing | |
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159
epoch
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| n.(新)时代；历元 | |
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160
aboriginal
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| adj.（指动植物）土生的，原产地的，土著的 | |
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161
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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162
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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163
destitution
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| n.穷困，缺乏，贫穷 | |
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164
profuse
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| adj.很多的，大量的，极其丰富的 | |
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165
reigns
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| n.君主的统治( reign的名词复数 )；君主统治时期；任期；当政期 | |
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166
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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167
caravans
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| （可供居住的）拖车（通常由机动车拖行）( caravan的名词复数 )； 篷车； （穿过沙漠地带的）旅行队（如商队） | |
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168
brigandage
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| n.抢劫；盗窃；土匪；强盗 | |
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169
heterogeneous
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| adj.庞杂的；异类的 | |
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170
agitators
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| n.（尤指政治变革的）鼓动者( agitator的名词复数 )；煽动者；搅拌器；搅拌机 | |
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171
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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172
mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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173
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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174
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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175
conspiring
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| 密谋( conspire的现在分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致 | |
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176
speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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177
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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178
assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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179
specious
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| adj.似是而非的；adv.似是而非地 | |
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180
fatten
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| v.使肥，变肥 | |
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181
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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182
stimulates
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| v.刺激( stimulate的第三人称单数 )；激励；使兴奋；起兴奋作用，起刺激作用，起促进作用 | |
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183
stimulate
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| vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋 | |
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184
dearth
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| n.缺乏，粮食不足，饥谨 | |
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185
sagely
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| adv. 贤能地，贤明地 | |
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186
wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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187
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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188
rations
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| 定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量 | |
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189
obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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190
civic
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| adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的 | |
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191
astute
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| adj.机敏的，精明的 | |
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192
sundry
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| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
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193
hoarding
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| n.贮藏；积蓄；临时围墙；囤积v.积蓄并储藏（某物）( hoard的现在分词 ) | |
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194
anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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195
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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196
iniquity
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| n.邪恶；不公正 | |
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197
affixed
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| adj.[医]附着的，附着的v.附加( affix的过去式和过去分词 )；粘贴；加以；盖（印章） | |
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198
baker
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| n.面包师 | |
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199
idiotic
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| adj.白痴的 | |
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200
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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201
beleaguered
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| adj.受到围困[围攻]的；包围的v.围攻( beleaguer的过去式和过去分词)；困扰；骚扰 | |
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202
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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203
cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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204
incurring
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| 遭受，招致，引起( incur的现在分词 ) | |
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205
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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206
philosophic
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| adj.哲学的，贤明的 | |
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207
legislate
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| vt.制定法律；n.法规，律例；立法 | |
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208
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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209
retrenchment
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| n.节省，删除 | |
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210
economize
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| v.节约，节省 | |
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211
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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212
doled
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| 救济物( dole的过去式和过去分词 )； 失业救济金 | |
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213
stinted
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| v.限制，节省（stint的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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214
impartiality
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| n. 公平, 无私, 不偏 | |
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215
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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216
lengthen
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| vt.使伸长，延长 | |
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217
bungling
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| adj.笨拙的，粗劣的v.搞糟，完不成( bungle的现在分词 )；笨手笨脚地做；失败；完不成 | |
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218
territorial
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| adj.领土的，领地的 | |
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219
legislated
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| v.立法，制定法律( legislate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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220
interdicting
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| v.禁止（行动）( interdict的现在分词 )；禁用；限制 | |
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221
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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222
illustrates
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| 给…加插图( illustrate的第三人称单数 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明 | |
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223
nominal
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| adj.名义上的；(金额、租金)微不足道的 | |
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224
fortitude
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| n.坚忍不拔；刚毅 | |
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225
temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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226
apathy
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| n.漠不关心，无动于衷；冷淡 | |
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227
honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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228
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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229
heroism
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| n.大无畏精神，英勇 | |
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230
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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231
amenable
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| adj.经得起检验的；顺从的；对负有义务的 | |
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232
publicity
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| n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告 | |
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233
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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234
monsoon
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| n.季雨，季风，大雨 | |
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235
rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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236
inaccessible
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| adj.达不到的，难接近的 | |
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237
wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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238
doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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239
extremities
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| n.端点( extremity的名词复数 )；尽头；手和足；极窘迫的境地 | |
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