BENGAL FAMINE 251 



the state of things accurately, was that one-third of 

 the population had died, and this, as Mr. (Sir) W. W. 

 Hunter remarked, implies the death of 10,000,000, as 

 the whole population in Bengal in those days can 

 hardly be estimated at less than 30,000,000. Another 

 estimate puts the mortality at 3,000,000, but in the 

 absence of any trustworthy data for computation, we 

 must be content with such general impressions as are 

 to be gathered from the extracts which I have given. 

 The main outlines of the calamity are plain enough. 

 Even with the assistance of a great waterway through 

 the centre of the afflicted tract, importation on an 

 adequate scale was impossible. Private charity was 

 powerless to cope with the distress. Such stores of 

 grain as existed in the country were rapidly exhausted ; 

 consequently, until the ripening of the succeeding 

 harvest there was absolutely no food in the country, 

 and the people died of hunger in immense numbers. 



Evidence such as that which we possess regarding 

 the Bengal famine multiplies as one province after 

 another comes under British rule. It increases with the 

 improvement of the administration, until, at the latter 

 end of the nineteenth century, we have elaborate 

 official narratives of famine and reports of famine 

 Commissions in which the cause, the growth, the 

 course of the famine, and statistics of rainfall and 

 mortality are faithfully tabulated. 



We have trustworthy historical evidence regarding 

 the famines of the United Provinces in the last century 

 and a quarter. This period may be roughly divided 

 into two epochs, the first of which only will be dealt 

 with in this chapter. The dividing line between the 

 two epochs is traced by the introduction of railways 

 into India. It is of course impossible to draw a definite 

 line between the two epochs, as the character of famines 

 changed gradually with the gradual perfection of rail- 

 ways ; but as the specification of a definite date is an 

 aid to memory, I have selected the year 1853 as the 



