26o THE INTERRUPTION OF INDUSTRY 



Persons importing grain in consequence of this 

 proclamation were at liberty to dispose of their grain 

 at such price and in such manner as they judged 

 proper. ' While these efforts were being made to 

 bring grain from Bengal to points varying from 500 to 

 600 miles distant, in the immediately adjoining province 

 of Rohilkhand grain was as abundant and fully one- 

 third cheaper than in Bengal. In July, 1804, wheat 

 and barley were selling in Bareilly at 60 seers per 

 rupee, whereas, in Bengal, the former was selling at 

 44 only. The distance from Fatehgarh is about seventy 

 miles' (Baird Smith). It will be seen from the price- 

 lists in the Appendix to Chapter XII. that wheat was 

 then selling in Aligarh at 19 seers 12 chitaks to the 

 rupee ; but in spite of the enormous difference between 

 the prices in the two markets, it was practically im- 

 possible to transport wheat from Bareilly to Aligarh. 

 Similarly, in the famine of 1837-38, grain at its highest 

 was selling in Agra at 11 seers the rupee, while in the 

 neighbouring province of Malwah it was selling at 

 50 to 60 seers the rupee. These two facts are con- 

 vincing evidence of the difficulties of transport in this 

 epoch. 



1837-38. — The famine of 1837-38 was the last of the 

 great desolating famines which characterized this 

 epoch ; like the Doji Bara in the Deccan, and the Chalisa 

 in Upper India, it loosened the bonds of society, laid 

 waste large tracts of country, and permanently modi- 

 fied the development of industry. It is the one famine 

 of the old type of which we possess adequate detailed 

 record ; the reports of the local officers at various 

 stages of the famine are, in many cases, still extant, 

 and Mr. Girdlestone, in his * Past Famines in the 

 North-West Provinces,' has given a history of it 

 which covers twenty-eight pages. The main features 

 of the famine may be clearly traced, and they are un- 

 mistakably characteristic of the v/orst famines of this 

 epoch. There had been a succession of bad harvests 



