246 THE INTERRUPTION OF INDUSTRY 



of the late {i.e.^ Maratha) Government was so great, 

 that she was immediately put to death by being tied 

 to the feet of a buffalo, and thus trodden to death.' 

 Prices rose to an unprecedented height, but un- 

 equally ; in some districts the price varied from 6 to 

 3 seers per rupee. In Lingsugur, in the Nizam's 

 dominions, the price of jowari rose to 2\ seers per 

 rupee. From Sholapur the Mamlutdar reported that 

 'before the commencement of British rule the rate of 

 grain was i^ seers for the rupee,' and from the neigh- 

 bouring Taluka of Barsee the price of i^ seers for a 

 rupee is reported. 



1799. — Scarcity in Dindigul. 



Even from the above short summary* it will be 

 observed that towards the end of the eighteenth 

 century the evidence grows more abundant, and the 

 details regarding famine become more precise. The 

 traditional evidence collected in the nineteenth century 

 by British district officers may now be supplemented 

 from the diaries of English travellers and the letters 

 and reports of the English servants of the East India 

 Company. The observations of eye-witnesses have 

 a special value in that they record facts which were 

 unfortunately considered below the dignity of the 

 historic Muse, but which throw a strong light upon 

 the economic condition of the people. 



* The above information is extracted from : 



1. * Report of the Past Famines in the Bombay Presidency,' com- 

 piled by Lieutenant-Colonel A. T. Etheridge, 1868. 



2. ' Report on the History of the Famine in H.H. the Nizam's 

 Dominions,' by Maulvi Sayad Mehdi AH, 1879. 



3. ' Administrative Experience recorded in Former Famines,' by 

 J. C. Geddes, C.S., 1874. 



4. ' Report on the Past Famines in the North-Western Provinces,' 

 by C. E. R. Girdlestone, 1868. 



5. ' Report of the Indian Famine Commission,' vol, ii., 1885. 



Vide also 'Cyclopaedia of India,' by E. Balfour, s.v., 'Famines,' 

 in which reference is made to famines on three occasions not 

 included in the above list — viz., 1703, 1745, 1787-88. 



