THE FAMINE IN INDIA: 
 
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 BY 
 A MONTCLAR, Esq, 
 
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THE FAMINE IN INDIA: 
 ITS REMEDIES AND CURE. 
 
 ~ 
 
 Tur question of Famine is a most serious one when it concerns 
 a few thousands of families of a country; but wher Famine 
 embodies millions of families in an empire of 220,000,000 souls, 
 the question is much more than serious. 
 
 Tt is strange to observe that the enlightened British Indian 
 Government, supported by the genius of England, has stimu- 
 lated special industries and the invention of industrial appliances 
 by offering prizes, but has not, so far as we are aware, held out 
 any special inducement to the development for the best practical 
 method of saving the British Indian Empire from the disasters 
 of famines, by adopting some comprehensible and effectual re- 
 medial measures at once. 
 
 If a prize were offered, I should be one of the competitors for it, 
 and the following is the scheme of measures and remedies to be 
 adopted for averting famines thatI propose; and which I pro- 
 minently bring to the notice of the public briefly, as, primd facie, 
 deserving of consideration, if my plans and proposed method are 
 to be subjected to a full discussion as to whether they should be 
 adopted or rejected. 
 
 I. 
 What are the principal causes of Famine in India? 
 
 They are drought and inundation: for, if prolonged drought is 
 the slow and certain ruin of crops, inundation is the sudden and 
 ~ unexpected ruin of it; the ruin of immense public and private 
 property, the cause of reservoirs and dams bursting and, thereby 
 the loss of the precious water for subsequent irrigation pur- 
 poses, and, generally, the total waa of it at the very time it is 
 highly necéssary. 
 
2 
 
 What are, then, the causes of drought and inundation in India ? 
 
 The cause of drought and inundation in India is her extensive 
 denudation. When a country is injudiciously denuded and 
 deprived of its extensive primitive forests, it becomes subject to 
 alternities of terrible drought and terrible inundation; and 
 particularly when it adjoins other countries similarly denuded. 
 
 This is my strong opinion, and the opinion which is supported 
 by the most eminent, scientific men of our age. And before 
 going further into the subject, I shall here extract the opinion, 
 on this very point, of one of them, the eminent Becquerel :— 
 
 ‘‘ Forests existed on the globe long before the appearance of 
 man—a fact proved by the immense coal deposits which are to 
 be found in every part of it, even in the polar regions. 
 ee a In most parts of the Old Continent, the ene life of 
 man was passed in forests, and increase of population was the 
 cause of the first attacks upon them ; but the greatest devasta- 
 tions only date from the period when great conquerors cut down 
 and burnt the forests in which the people they wanted to subdue 
 had taken refuge. 
 
 ‘From the Ganges to the Euphrates, from that to the Mediterr- 
 anean, an extent of ground 1,000 leagues in length and several 
 hundred broad, was ravaged by wars during the lapse of thirty 
 centuries. ; | 
 
 ‘‘Nineveh and Babylon, so celebrated for their civilization ; 
 Palmyrah and Balbeck, renowned for their opulence, now offer 
 nothing but ruins to the exploring gazo of the traveller, in 
 the midst of deserts and swamps, once covered by luxuriant 
 forests. 
 ~ “From the time of Sesostris to that of Mehemet II., Asia 
 Minor was a constant scene of unrelenting wars, leading to 
 - sunilar results. 
 
 ‘The land of Canaan, so highly’ praised in the Bible, is now 
 little more than a desert; and the whole coast of Africa along 
 the Mediterranean tells a similar story.” 
 
 The above opinion of Becquerel, corroborated as it is by the 
 opinion of a great many other scientific men, on the question 
 
3 
 
 of denudation, proves that denudation is the greatest calamity 
 (because the most lasting and permanent) that befalls a country. 
 
 Indeed, as stated by Becquerel, 3,000 years before European 
 civilization reached India, the denudation of forests there had 
 taken place; for denudation is necessary for cultivation, and it 
 was hence the magnificent forests of the Jow countries of India 
 were felled and burnt for the sake of Indian‘cultivation. As 
 long as this denudation was limited to the lands wnder cultwation, 
 India was in a flourishing agricultural condition, because, then, 
 the forests extant on the uncultivated, upper or hilly, lands were 
 not interfered with. 
 
 So great was the wealth and prosperity of India, that foreign 
 warriors and conquerors continuously kept it invaded for a period 
 of 3,000 years, with a view to becoming sovereign possessors of 
 this magnificent and opulent Continent. And it may be left to 
 historians to chronicle these fearful invasions, and in particular 
 the invasion of the Mahomedans in A. D. 1370, which was one of 
 the most terrific invasion known on earth ; for they not only 
 extended their domination over the Indians, but imposed their 
 new Religion to the yoke whereof the invaded and the van- 
 quished would not submit and offered stubborn resistance. And 
 the conquerors, having seen that extermination became neces- 
 sary, they accomplished it, all over India, by fire and sword! 
 
 Such was the condition of India when the Portuguese arrived 
 there via the Cape of Good Hope. After them came the Dutch, 
 the English, the French and the Danes. The history of the en- 
 terprise of these several Huropean nations is too well known to 
 require mention in this paper. Suffice it to say, India is no more 
 either a Portuguese, or a Dutch, or a French possession, but 
 
 the recognized British empire, by the final European Interna- 
 tional Treaty of 1815. 
 
 Since then, India has no more been the scene of any Euro- 
 pean complication, Now and again certain local disturbances 
 occurred here and there, but they were successfully put down 
 by the British policy or by the British arms, as readily as they 
 tured up. And the most serious of these was the Indian Mutiny © 
 
Ay 
 
 of 1857, which event was the cause of the power of the Honor- 
 able East India Company being transferred to the Crown of 
 Her Britannic Majesty. Now, on the Ist of January 1877, 
 India has been constituted a British Indian Empire, and Her 
 Most Gracious Majesty the Queen of Great Britain proclaimed 
 Empress. 
 
 The British Indian Empire is a vast one, both in territorial 
 extent and in population; but unfortunately an dimmense area 
 of that territory is denuded (as already explained,) leaving the 
 population exposed to calamities of drought and inundation. As 
 also already shewn this said denudation was brought about 
 long before the occupation of India by the British Nation, and 
 the British Indian Government is not responsible for it. 
 
 But, now, as the possesgors of the Indian Empire, the duty for 
 considering and devising means for the preservation of their 
 splendid Imperial estate, devolves upon the British Nation and 
 their Government, because it must be borne in mind that nothing 
 creates human discontent and popular ill-will than the miseries 
 caused by drought and inundation, Such disasters being re- 
 peated, may cause great social and political dissatisfaction in 
 india, unless timely measures are adopted to prevent repetitions 
 of such a dire calamity as Famine, And this duty, as I have 
 said above, devolves on the British Indian Government. 
 
 As a scientific practical Industrial and Agriculturist, well con- 
 nected with the climatic condition of India since 1848, I had the 
 honor of addressing His Excellency the Viceroy on that great 
 subject. : 
 
 No. 98, M. 
 GoVERNMENT oF INDIA. 
 PuBptic Works DEPARTMENT. 
 
 Civil Works—Miscellaneous. 
 
 To 
 MonstzeurR A. Monrcrar, 
 Travancore. 
 Forr Witiiam, 16th March, 1878. 
 SIR, 
 
 In reply to your letter of the 24th of January last, addressed 
 to His Excellency tho Viceroy, suggesting a schome for the pre- 
 
5 
 vention of Famine by the storage of water in the uncultivated 
 hilly countries of India, I am directed to inform you that you 
 may, if you are so disposed, submit your invention to the Famine 
 Commission for consideration. 
 
 - J have the honor to be, 
 Sir, 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 Gray. H. Ripwiru, Captain, R. E., 
 Asst. Secy. to the Govt. of India. 
 
 Immediately I received the official news, that the Famine 
 Commission was finally instituted, I at once forwarded to the 
 Commission my views and plans fully, proposing to prove my 
 views and plans practically and its cost, not with pen and ink, 
 but with inamoties on hands, and which I am fully prepared 
 to prove at any time, 
 
 GoVERNMENT oF INDIA. 
 
 PuBLIc Works DEPARTMENT. 
 
 Smuia, April 29th, 1878. 
 
 Monstzrur A. Monrcrar, 
 
 fC. SC. SC. 
 Travancore. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honour to acknowledge your letters of the 25th, 
 29th ultimo and Sth instant, on the subject of your proposed 
 project for storing rain water* in view to prevent Famines in 
 India, and I am to inform you that your views will be laid 
 before and considered by the Famine Commission in connection 
 with the present question of irrigation. 
 
 I have, &c., 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 A. Howe, 
 Secretary I. C. 
 
 * Note.—It would have been more complete had the Sccretary told, viz., 
 
 for storing rain water and to restore forests in ove operation, in view to 
 prevent famines in India, &e, 
 
6 
 
 Until the Famine Commission may consider my views and 
 plans, I lay before the public of the British Nation ‘and of the 
 British Indian Empire, these views: and plans for full consider- 
 ation, viz. ; | 
 
 Can we prevent drought at once? No. We cannot prevent 
 drought at once. 
 
 Canjwe prevent drought for the future? Yes. For the future 
 we can prevent it. 
 
 We can mitigate it a good deal at first; and prevent it alto- 
 gether ultimately. But to facilitate and to secure such miti- 
 gation and prevention of drought, we must restore vegetation on 
 the denuded and uncultivated parts of each District falling within 
 the four Presidencies of the Empire, and, thereby, re-establish 
 the primitive forests which have been destroyed in Hindustan. 
 And this will require time, labour, and, above all, moisture, 
 to make us successful in the restoration of vegetation. 
 
 Now, can we prevent inundation at once ? Yes: inundation we 
 can prevent at once! and it is important to remark that inunda- 
 tion is equal, if not worse, than drought. 
 
 It simply requires to have millions of men at work, in the 
 four Presidencies, to accomplish it, and that,.as soon as possible, 
 and simultaneously, in order to complete rapidly the work neces- 
 sary for the prevention of mundation (one of the two principal 
 causes of Famine). 
 
 The practical work, I propose, is fo sfore the rain water, 
 which annually falls on the surface of the denuded uncultivated 
 lands of the wp-countries of the four Presidencies, on these 
 
 very denuded uncultivated lands themselves !! 
 
 Each acre of denuded uncultivated lands, should be divided 
 into 800, or 500, or 600 small reservoirs, more or less, to be 
 regulated by the natural lay of the land (being flat, or inclined, 
 steep or very steep). 
 
 Each of these reservoirs being next to each other, and each 
 acting as arain guage (!) made purposely of earth (instead of 
 metal) the rain that falls is fully retained on each square, and of 
 
7 
 
 itself, enédrely penetrates into the soil. This will secure the rain- 
 water entirely against any chance of escape from where it falls. 
 
 When thus the rain water is secured on the denuded uneultivat- 
 ed heights themselves, it is clear that the possibility of the rain 
 falling on high lands, coming down and inundating, as it often 
 does all of a sudden, the cultivated low lands, is checked, and on 
 the contrary, these cultivated low lands will thereby, by the 
 natural process of filtration and infiltration, gradually receive 
 water and moisture. 
 
 Indeed, the water of the /ow countries cannot run up country! 
 but it is the water of the high lands which run down to the low 
 lands, by the natural but incomplete process of infiltration and 
 filtration, And sometimes we see these natural sudden freshes 
 (due entirely to denudation) causing fearful inundations. 
 
 Therefore, by storing the rain fall in the hilly countries, 
 (on the hills themselves) which will cost on an average from 14 
 to 15 Rupees per acre, the Aigh lands will be prevented from 
 flooding low lands, and will be made to dispense the water they 
 receive there quietly and gradually: both localities (the high 
 lands and the low lands) equally receiving the beneficial results 
 of the monsoons, as explained above. In fact such calamity as 
 sudden inundation will be altogether prevented ! 
 
 But the advantage of such storage of rain as above pointed 
 out, does not lie in the prevention of inundation only, it will 
 successfully re-establish moisture on the said denuded un- 
 cultivated high lands of India, and when moisture is, thus, once 
 more secured there (as it was primitively) vegetation will 
 naturally revive there, beginning with grass, succeeded by 
 brushwood, then jungle trees, and lastly by forest trees!..,... 
 ....But without morsture being restored, it will be too much to 
 expect such restoration (whether natural or artificial we have to 
 determine hereafter.) 
 
 We, thus, have seen that rebdodsement of the denuded countries, 
 is of inevitable necessity; and to attain that end, that the re- 
 establishment of moisture there is of primary importance. And 
 
8 
 
 as the deserving result of the work I am sure we will indubita- 
 bly gain our great objects in view—viz. : 
 
 (a.) Moisture re-established. Revival of Vegetation (na- 
 tural or artificial) attained, and reboisement secured. 
 
 (6.) Sudden inundations prevented. 
 
 (c.) Gentle or gradual irrigation, by infiltration and filtration 
 assured to the low, cultivated countries of the four Presidencies 
 of India. 
 
 As a natural consequence of the above works, the Irrigation 
 reservoirs already extant in the low cultivated countries of India 
 will be gradually supphed by the influx of milliards and milli- 
 ards of springs proceeding from the high lands of the four 
 Presidencies, tanks and reservoirs will, then, no more be open 
 to a sudden rushing in of irresistible freshes and consequent 
 breaking of dams and embankments. 
 
 The anicuts of the principal Indian rivers will be prevented 
 from overflowing suddenly. And the millions and millions of 
 ‘cubic-yards of water, which, under such circumstances, escape 
 over the head of the said anicuts into the raging seas, wholly 
 and entirely secured unto the agriculturist with immense advan- 
 tages. 
 
 Many centuries prior to the introduction of Huropean civiliza- 
 tion into India, irrigation works were in existence there, that 
 is, in the low countries. And the system of irrigation and navi- 
 gation works themselves have been considerably improved by 
 the British Indian Government since. But I say unless my 
 suggestions given above in detail, are, as soon as practicable 
 and unhesitatingly, carried into effect, the irrigation and navi- 
 gation in the low cultivated countries of India, will never be 
 a thorough success, as a prevention of Famine. 
 
 If. 
 Now, the question comes, if the measures are to be carried 
 into effect, what is to be done? 
 
 How to launch the immense undertaking? (not less than 
 100,000,000 of acres. ) 
 
9 
 
 For when we have in the years 1878 and 1879, found it of 
 imperative necessity to repair and restore to primitive con- 
 dition the results of the continued devastations, the accumulated 
 ravages by fire and sword, of no less than three thousand years ! 
 .... the work decidedly becomes a gigantic undertaking !!.... 
 The method of working to be adopted is just the same as any 
 other gigantic work done by human beings in our days, by 
 public or private enterprise. But as the work I am treating of 
 is one which concerns the national public safety of the country, 
 and is one of prime importance to the Indian Empire, such a 
 prodigious work may be launched under the support of the 
 Paramount Power, but fully co-operated by the Maharajahs, 
 Rajahs, Talookdars, Zemindars, Landlords, and even Ryots, who 
 are possessors of landed estates in the plains of India. 
 
 For instance, as soon as the cultivation of their respective lands 
 is over, every landowner should furnish to the Government of his 
 respective Presidency, (every one to his own District) all avail- 
 able (male) agricultural hands, so as to forthwith commence 
 operations necessary for the storage of rain water, as fully de- 
 tailed in the preceding chapter, and almost simultaneously to 
 re-establish forests by planting (seeds or seedlings of) all Indian 
 productive trees, yielding good food (fruits or nuts) to the people 
 of the country (say, jack trees, mango trees, cashewnut trees, 
 guava trees, bread fruit trees, apples) &c. &c., 
 
 Moisture being once re-established on these denuded lands 
 and hills, in course of 5, 6 and 7 years, all the above named 
 trees will begin yielding abundantly, fruits which in times of 
 scarcity, and generally, are good food to the natives. 
 
 Well, in consideration of the assistance to be thus rendered 
 by the agricultural working classes of the Indian Empire, in 
 storing rain water and planting trees, I propose that they be 
 allowed to enjoy the fruits ofthe trees 7 perpetuity. The working 
 classes of each District, each Zemindary, each Village, enjoying 
 the yield of his respective District, Zemindary, or Village. 
 
 The trees, of course, will be Crown property, being planted 
 on Crown land, and therefore, under the direct control of the 
 
10 
 
 Conservator of Water and Forests, the produce alone being the 
 perpetual estate of the working men, the agricultural classes. 
 
 This arrangement is but what I think proper; but it is 
 nevertheless a matter for discussion and determination by the 
 interested parties themselves, viz. : 
 
 (a.) The British Indian Government who are interested in 
 the security and protection of their Empire, their subjects, and 
 their public revenue. 
 
 (0.) . All the hundred thousands of landlords and tenants in- 
 terested in the preservation of the lives of millions of people, 
 constituting their agricultural population, the preservation of 
 their valuable landed properties, which will be useless without 
 secure irrigation ! ! 
 
 There are minor details which might seem to need discussion, 
 but it is of no use doing it here, for, if you wish to go to Rome, 
 there are many routes for it, and the best way of accomplishing 
 an object in our days, is to consider the quickest, the most 
 handy and the cheapest. Moreover these details of minor im- 
 portance will not and cannot affect the fundamental scheme I 
 propose, of jorning the operations of storing rain water on the 
 denuded high lands, and of planting or reviving forest trees, in 
 one simultaneous action !!—killing two gigantic birds with one 
 stone. 
 
 When a house is on fire, all neighbours and all spectators 
 will run to the spot and use their best efforts, in one combined 
 attempt, to extinguish the conflagration; for, if that were not 
 done, the flames will communicate itself to the adjoining houses, 
 and, in a few minutes, hundred of houses, and, sometimes, even 
 whole villages, will be at the mercy of the wind and flames ! 
 
 Weil, India is not better off than that now. She isin extreme 
 danger, on account of its extensive denudation, which is the 
 primary and direct cause of prolonged drought and inundation 
 there, because of the absence of forests to generate meisture by 
 attracting clouds, no chance of retention of rain, nor to help 
 moisture, every night, by the exosmose of the leaves of the plants 
 
tél, 
 
 and trees, no means of protection of the upper countries, as 
 there is nothing to moderate the flow of rain from the hills. 
 Thus situate, who can be astonished at drought and inundation 
 
 playing sad havoc there ? 
 
 ITI. 
 I fully believe my plan to be the most practical one, because 
 
 of its cheapness and simplicity. 
 
 By it the two essential objects to be gained, would be gained. 
 How the scheme isto be effected alone remains to be discussed. 
 
 We are not short of hands in India, We have in the land a 
 large population—a population interested in the safety of their 
 landed possessions, their lives, and the lives of their families. 
 Hence the question can present but a much less difficult aspect 
 than might be anticipated by the Indian Government. 
 
 To talk of irrigation and navigation works, all over India, 
 here, is idle, as a mitigatory measure against Famine. For 
 irrigation can be successful only when the storage and conser- 
 vation of water have been successfully achieved. 
 
 No irrigation works, on the plains of India, can be a success- 
 ful undertaking (both financial and agricultural) unless the two 
 gigantic objects proposed by me, as necessary to be attained on 
 the denuded and uncultivated high lands of India are secured, 
 
 To ensure complete success in that direction, ¢mmediate and 
 sharp action is necessary. 
 
 The work proposed must be commenced immediately after the 
 setting in of the monsoon, when the soil begins to be moistened 
 and is no more hard like iron. Besides, the planting operation, 
 which has to be undertaken simultaneously, cannot be carried 
 into perfection without the rain to foster the seedlings planted, 
 or to germinate the seeds sown, Andit is a well known, fact 
 that all Huropean and Native Agriculturists plant in the 
 rainy season. I am sanguine that if such a work is begun in 
 good earnest and with the spirit of a national grand elan of hip, 
 hip, hurrah, setting millions of men at work, simultaneously 
 in the four Presidencies of India; such a gigantic work, one 
 
12 
 
 thousand times more gigantic than the Suez Canal project, or 
 
 any other work done in our days, can be fully completed in 
 two successive monsoons ! 
 
 Every Collector, Sub-Collector, Assistant Collector, Deputy 
 Collector and District Engineer, with their staff, Europeans and 
 Natives, and extra supervisors in each District of the four Pre- 
 sidencies, will have charge of their own District. 
 
 ‘The Conservators of Forests in the four Presidencies, of course, 
 will give assistance in the planting operation by supplying 
 seeds or plants. 
 
 Many military officers having no important military duty to 
 perform for the time being, might also come in handy to assist, 
 that is such of them as have been engaged in Famine relief and 
 civil works. The Sappers and Miners of the four Presidencies 
 will be of valuable assistance for superintending the works. 
 
 As regards the general works of irrigation and navigation 
 being extended on the largest possible scale, I need hardly 
 make any mention, because the staff of officers attached to these 
 works in India, has proved itself to be a staff of the most com- 
 petent Engineers in every respect. 
 
 They are more than sufficiently talented men, but it is a pro- 
 per number of stores to furnish abundant water for irrigation 
 and navigation that is insufficient. 
 
 Now, after the completion of the great work I have proposed, 
 there will remain the question of manure to be manufactured in 
 all the populated towns and districts of the four Presidencies in. 
 India. 
 
 This has to be done by allowing a premium for it; thus 
 encouraging private individuals manufacturing chemical, arti- 
 ficial and natural manures, and producing plenty of it of a richly 
 stimulative and recuperative quality for the Indian agriculturist. 
 
 This consideration is needed, on account of the highly im- 
 poverished nature of the soil of certain localities, and some lands 
 exhausted of their fertility. Theso will certainly require proper 
 manuring to command an adequate yield to the agriculturist. 
 
13 
 
 As a matter of importance connected with the manufacture of 
 manure, I would here remark that from the towns of Calcutta, 
 Madras, Bombay, not less than two thousands of tons (2,000 
 tons) of splendid, fertile manure, representing four pounds 
 sterling per ton, are lost every day to the Indian agriculture! 
 
 The Municipalities of these three large Presidency towns can 
 make a good Municipal revenue in time, by first encouraging the 
 starting of such an important industry bya lease for so many years. 
 
 Some lands, I know, require salt, and I propose that black, 
 dirty salt, purposely made dirty so as to prevent the use of it 
 for domestic purposes, should be sold to the agriculturists at 
 the lowest possible price, by the Government. 
 
 Deeper ploughing should be encouraged by Government, so 
 that the agriculturist may be induced to try the great profits 
 arising from deeper ploughing and the turning up of the soil. 
 In every district of the four Presidencies, paddy seeds, for 
 planting operations, should be distributed to the ryots (on pay- 
 ment) by the Government officers on/y. Because the difference 
 of crop, from the effects of sowing good, middling, or poor seeds, 
 is in itself something prodigious. 
 
 And how to select good seed, and to avoid bad seed, is so well- 
 known a thing as not to require any mention of it here. 
 
 The destruction of useful birds, who are the natural enemies 
 of locusts, worms, and insects in general, should be prevented 
 entirely by law. 
 
 But the destruction of eagles, kites, the natural enemies of 
 the useful birds, should be much encouraged in India. 
 
 IT have great many other suggestions to make, but at present 
 I must confine myself to the suggestions above namec, and 
 which are mentioned by me merely as a matter of agricultural 
 importance, but these suggestions, for great improvements, are 
 entirely unconnected with the plan I have proposed. 
 
 It will also be out of place, in this paper, to give an opinion 
 on ‘‘Sun’s spots’—but if necessary, we shall do it hereafter 
 in a separate paper, because “ Sun’s spots” have nothing in 
 common with the extensive, disastrous denudation of India. 
 
14 
 
 CoNCLUSION. 
 
 TI have stated as shortly as possible the plan I propose, and 
 I can prove its practicability over an area of one hundred, one 
 thousand, one million, or ten millions of acres, at the price of 
 15 Rupees per acre; but if the works were carried out, as I 
 have proposed, under the support of the Paramount Power, with 
 the co-operative assistance of a// the landlords and ryots in India, 
 the cost per acre may turn out to be 5 or 6 Rupees, and perhaps 
 less. 
 
 The tools required are ‘‘ Mamoties,” and every labourer can 
 bring his own arm! (his ‘‘ Mamotie.’’) 
 
 Portable tents will have to be supplied by Government (very 
 likely in some localities) for the shelter of the workmen during 
 the nights. tice will have to be supplied to the poorest classes, 
 well able to work, but destitute of means to procure their own 
 food, or who are unsupported by their own landlords. 
 
 Under such circumstances, an acre will not cost more than 5 
 or 6 Rupees, and perhaps less, as already stated, because the 
 agricultural bargain I propose to be made is one of great 
 advantage to the agricultural class—To, viz.: 
 
 (a.) Government gives the land. 
 
 (b.) The produce will not be the Government property, but 
 that of the agricultural populations in perpetuity. 
 
 By such understanding, the agricultural population of India 
 will be protected against— 
 
 (1st.) Sudden and disastrous inundation, and 
 
 (2nd.) Supply of rainfall fully stored to them (by much 
 more moisture both by rain and exosmose, and besides by far 
 much less evaporation of the upper lands covered with vege- 
 tation and trees) and thus secure to them milliards and milliards 
 of springs, which will gently flow by filtration and thereby 
 secure far better irrigation to the agricultural population. 
 
 In the absence of sure and certain means of irrigation in 
 India, landed possession there is worth nothing! 
 
15 
 But secure irrigation and prevent inundation, then the landed 
 property in India will represent an immense private and 
 public fortune! 
 Under the circumstances abovementioned and explanations 
 above set forth, I am sincerely of opinion that the foregoing 
 bargain I propose between the British Indian Government and 
 
 the agricultural population of India, whom I shall call the 
 contracting parties, is a fair one. 
 
 Now, under matured consideration, the Government may see, 
 if the land tax cannot be reduced for a few years, until the fruit 
 trees are in full bearing condition and the growth of forests isin 
 the ascendant (by taking proper measures which I shall explain 
 in another paper.) 
 
 It is, however, a subject to be considered by the Financial 
 Department, and likewise the question as to whether the Govern- 
 ment will prefer small camps, or middling, or large, or very large 
 ones, is one to be determined upon consultation with the officers 
 of each District. 
 
 For my own part, I would recommend small camps, so as to 
 avoid the agricultural population too far distanced from their 
 villages. 
 
 If the foregoing plan is carried out, the hot, climatic condition 
 of India, will be much temperated within a few years. 
 
 A point of importance to remark, before closing this paper, 
 is that under the tropical climate of India, the work I propose 
 is practically easy, because we have not to deal with the quick 
 melting away of immense quantities of accumulated snow and 
 ice!!,...but simply with 3, or 4 or 5 feet of rainfall per annum, 
 and which presents no difficulty whatever to be stored. 
 
 Here end for the present my succinct suggestions, but made to 
 the point, to the very point, which I leave for public considera- 
 tion and public discussion. 
 
 But I beg to remark that the best discussion is a practical 
 proof, which I am prepared to shew on any area, 4,000,000 souls 
 have perished during the last famine! Before a disaster of such 
 appalling magnitude the British Indian Government by the serious 
 
16 
 
 duty to perform in selecting the cheapest and most effectual reme- 
 dy to check a recurrence of such calamities. 
 A. MONTCLAR, 
 Civil Engineer. 
 Member and Professor of the 
 
 Philotechnique Institute I, N. 
 TRAVANCORE, TREVANDRUM, \ 
 
 15th August, 1878. 
 
 TrAvaNncorE, TreEvanprum, 4th July 1878, 
 To 
 
 The Honorable Members of the Famine Commission, 
 
 Simla. 
 GENTLEMEN, 
 
 I have had the honor of submitting my plans and views about 
 the administrative measures to be adopted by the Supreme Govern- 
 ment of the British Indian Empire, so as to prevent, viz. : 
 
 1st. Inundation at once, inundation being one of the two 
 principal causes of Famine in India. 
 
 I have explained clearly, that inundation is equal, if not 
 worse than drought (the other principal cause of Famine) because 
 if the prolongation of drought is the slow and certain cause of 
 famine, inundation is the sudden and unexpected cause of famine 
 by the destruction of crops, private and public properties, &e. 
 &e. : 
 
 2nd. To prevent drought by re-establishing artificial forests 
 (producing food-fruits) on the extensive denuded, uncultivated 
 lands of the up-countries of the four Presidencies of India. 
 
 2. Ihave explained clearly that by one principal operation, 
 which is the storage of rainfall on each acre of these denuded, 
 uncultivated lands themselves, we shall prevent— 
 
 (a.) Inundation at once. 
 
 (b.) Re-establish moisture on these lands themselves, be- 
 - cause without modsture it is impossible to gain the immense object 
 of re-establishing natural or artificiul forests, by which re-estab- 
 lishment the climatic condition of India will be much temperat- 
 ed, and prolonged disastrous drought avoided, &c. &c. 
 
iy, ; 
 
 3. I have proposed to prove practically my plan at my own 
 risk and proposing to take a contract of 10,000,000 of acres. 
 
 But I am certain that more than 150,000,000 of acres are 
 entirely denuded in the four Presidencies of the empire. ‘There- 
 fore if the Government does not take the administrative measures 
 I have proposed, well then I propose that the Government will 
 allow me to prove my practical agricultural combination on 
 some hundred acres or few thousand acres, so as I may start 
 an Immense Company to be called the ‘‘ British Indian Famine 
 Prevention Company,” having its branches of association with— 
 
 (a) The British Indian Irrigation and Navigation Company. 
 
 (6) With the Agricultural Industrial manufactures of artificial 
 and natural manures for the Indian Agviculturists of the four 
 Presidencies. 
 
 (c) With the Farming Company, so as to produce seeds of a 
 splendid quality for sale to the Aegriculturists of the four 
 Presidencies. 
 
 It must be remembered that it is ‘‘ The Honorable East India 
 Company” which has built the strong foundation of this British 
 Indian Empire, and it will be nothing but justice to renew a 
 ‘new Honorable East India Company,” not for political or ad- 
 ministrative purposes now in the hands of ILer Most Gracious 
 Majesty the Empress of India, but for Agricultural, Industrial, 
 Commercial purposes, so as to save the British Indian Empire 
 from Famine, and enrich the country at large. 
 
 Begging your Honorable Commission to recommend to the 
 Supreme Government a public trial of my new agricultural 
 combination, 
 
 I have the honor to be, 
 Geutlemen, 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 A; MONTCLAR; 
 Civil Engineer. 
 Lember and Professor of the 
 Philotechnique Institute I, LV. 
 
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