8 



of which were described by Burke in one of his well known 

 orations. From 1789 to 1792, a terrible famine raged in 

 the Northern Circars. The famine does not appear to have 

 extended to the north of Ganjam, and at Puri the people lived ^ 

 in the midst of plenty. In the Ichdpur and Chioacole coun- 

 tries, however, the people died in thousands. • The country was 

 plunged in a state of misery and desolation truly deplorable. 

 Whole tracts were depopulated, and when the famine came 

 to an end, people were not forthcoming to cultivate the lands. 

 The reports of the Collector of Rajahmundry in the beginning 

 of the century shT)w that many villages in the fertile delta of 

 the Goddvari had become depopulated and great difficulty was 

 felt in arranging for the cultivation of lands. 



Epidemics also were very frequent and destructive. • Small- 

 pox was very virulent, so much so that, on the Western Coast, 

 till within recent times, on the first appearance of the epidemic 

 in villages, the villagers used to desert them, leaving the suf- 

 ferers to shift for themselves as best they could or die. So 

 recently as the beginning of this century a fever of a very malig- 

 nant type decimated the populations of Madura, Tinuevelly and 

 Coimbatore districts. A committee was appointed by Govern- 

 ment to inquire into the causes of the epidemic, and it reported 

 that the primary cause was the highly insalubrious condition of 

 the atmosphere resulting from the continued and extraordinary 

 deviations from the regular course of the seasons and the 

 miasmata arising from the marshy grounds, the thick jungles on 

 the bill sides and from the salt marshes on the sea coast. The 

 committee added that there were not wanting also predisposing 

 causes in the debilitated condition of the population owing 

 to insufficient diet, exposure to cold and damp, and fear and 

 anxiety. The wretched ryorts were only too well prepared to 

 imbibe the poison by their poor condition and careless habits 

 of life, and this was conclusively shown by the fact that, on 

 one occasion, while the ryots were dying by thousands, soldiers, 

 convicts and others scarcely suffered at all. 



6. There is also ample evidence to show that the land tax 



The land tax collected taken, uot ouly by the Muhammadan but 



by Native sovereigns also by the Hindu soveroigns, was fully 



heavy and oppressive. v. li; xi. i nr 5 



one-hall the gross produce. Menu s pro- 

 portion of one-sixth (which in the case of unirrigated lands 

 must have operated as a heavy tax on industry and not on rent, 

 for rent, owing to the abundance of cultivable lands and the 

 sparseness of population, could not have come into existence) 

 must, if it ever was observed in practice, have for several 

 centuries been exceeded, and half the gross produce come to 



