INDIA 



2946 



INDIA 



where have a high temperature throughout the 

 year, and in the summer months are practically 

 unendurable for Europeans. On the slopes of 

 the Himalayas, however, and in the higher 

 parts of the Deccan the climate is delightful, 

 and here have sprung up the "summer resorts" 

 to which all Europeans who can do so find 

 their way at the outbreak of the hot weather. 

 Most famous of these resort cities is Simla, 

 celebrated by Kipling in a score or more of 

 stories. 



Of even greater importance than the tem- 

 perature, however, is the rainfall, for upon 

 "the rains" depends every phase in the life of 



the people. There are but two seasons, a wet 

 and a dry, the former lasting from June until 

 November, the latter through the remaining 

 months. Some regions of India, notably Assam, 

 along the northern coast of the Bay of Bengal, 

 receive the heaviest rainfall in the world, from 

 500 to 600 inches being no uncommon total; 

 and 805 inches have been recorded in one year. 

 Some parts, on the other hand, are arid, and in 

 the upper Bengal provinces the lack of rain 

 often results in those disastrous famines which 

 play so large a part in the economic history of 

 India (see FAMINE). Improved transportation 

 has lessened the dangers from famine. 



Resources and Industries 



Minerals. Time was when India was famous 

 for its diamonds and its rubies, but to-day the 

 output of its mines is far less gorgeous, if more 

 practical; for coal is now its principal mineral 

 product. The growth of coal mining is recent, 

 and has kept pace in a measure with the growth 

 of railways, for it is chiefly to supply the en- 

 gines that it is in demand. Somewhat over 

 14,000,000 tons is now the annual output. Pe- 

 troleum is plentiful, and gold is found in con- 

 siderable quantities, but of other minerals the 

 yield is small. What vast riches the Himalayan 

 ranges may contain cannot even be conjectured. 



Manufactures. The native inhabitants of 

 India have always been, since first the Euro- 

 peans became acquainted with them, famous for 

 the exquisite and delicate fabrics which they 

 know how to weave, and the manufacture of 

 these is still carried on in the homes, with the 

 simplest of looms. Beautiful rugs and carpets, 

 too, are produced in the province of Kashmir, 

 and metal work of fine quality is everywhere 

 for sale. The natives themselves, however, now 

 make comparatively little use of the beauti- 

 ful hand-wrought products, whether textile or 

 metal, since the factory-made articles of Eng- 

 land can be imported so cheaply. Cotton mills 

 have been introduced into India, and now their 

 yield is the largest manufactured product. 

 Carved woodwork, showing a delicacy and skill 

 wonderful to Western eyes; cashmere shawls, 

 paper, woolens, indigo and sugar are among 

 the other products, some of them very exten- 

 sive. 



Agriculture. This is the main dependence 

 of the people, the industry upon which from 

 time immemorial most of them have relied. By 

 bettering transportation facilities and increasing 

 the irrigation projects, Great Britain has done 



much to promote agriculture, and would have 

 done much more had the people not been so 

 immovably opposed to the introduction of ma- 

 chinery and even of modern implements. Hold- 

 ing firmly to their primitive methods, the 

 natives have far smaller crops than might 

 otherwise be the case, but the soil is for the 

 most part fertile, and if the moisture is suffi- 

 cient it produces well. The rainfall is very 

 uncertain and with its failure come those fright- 

 ful famines which carry off scores of thousands 

 of people. To offset these famines by storing 

 up grain and rushing it from the regions of 

 plenty to the starving districts has been one of 

 the great tasks of the British government. 



The government has constructed great reser- 

 voirs for irrigation purposes, not only in those 

 sections like Sind and the lower Punjab, which 

 must be irrigated every year, but in places 

 which are liable to occasional drought. Alto- 

 gether, at least one-sixth of the total area under 

 crops is irrigated, and of this at least half is 

 supplied with water from government projects. 



In the delta regions, when there is plenty of 

 water, rice is the great crop, and about 76,600,- 

 000 acres, or more than one-third of the total 

 area under crops, is planted to rice. It is gen- 

 erally stated that rice is the staple food stuff 

 of India, but careful authorities estimate that 

 only about one-third of the people depend 

 upon it entirely. The crops of next impor- 

 tance are wheat, millet and other grains; cot- 

 ton, sugar cane, oil seeds of various kinds, 

 indigo, tobacco, tea, coffee and opium. Most 

 of these crops are rather clearly localized, 

 Bengal producing most of the rice, the north- 

 west provinces the chief wheat crops, certain 

 high regions in the southwest the coffee, and 

 Bengal and the United Provinces of Agra and 



