CHAPTER XI 



THE RELIEF OF THE UNEMPLOYED : FAMINES 

 {continued) 



In the epoch which we have now to consider (1853- 

 1906) the character of famines undergoes a gradual 

 change. During these years the means of transport 

 were greatly improved, and what I may call the 

 immobility of food-stuffs was overcome. The harvests 

 were bad at irregular intervals in different provinces, 

 but, as the crops never failed simultaneously over the 

 whole of India, it was possible to supply the dearth 

 in one district out of the abundance of another. The 

 province, therefore, was never entirely denuded of 

 food, as was Bengal in 1770 and the Doab in 1837-38. 

 The fundamental difference between a famine at the 

 beginning and a famine at the end of the nineteenth 

 century was this : At the beginning of the century the 

 price of food rose so high as to be absolutely beyond 

 the reach of the majority of the inhabitants, and even 

 at these exorbitant rates it was often not to be had ; 

 many of the well-to-do were unable to buy food, and 

 in some cases they poisoned themselves to avoid the 

 slow torture of starvation. At the end of the nine- 

 teenth century there was plenty of food, even in the 

 districts in which the crops had failed altogether ; the 

 price indeed was high, but it was not absolutely pro- 

 hibitive, even to persons of moderate means. Such 

 persons had to suffer great privations, but they had 

 not the horrible prospect of death by starvation. 



267 



