376 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA. 



rebellion of 1857 is perhaps unprecedented in any country in 

 the world. It is so startling that cautious persons do not 

 believe that it can be permanent. Its permanency seems to 

 hang on the balance of what the next few years may bring 

 forth. If the price of cotton holds up, everything may be 

 hoped for ; and it is a symptom which every well-wisher of 

 India must rejoice to see, that this year we have nearly as 

 large an American crop as before the war, with the price of 

 cotton still remaining steady in the market, while the 

 American growers are refraining from extending their area 

 for fear of bringing down the price. No doubt some fall in 

 the price of cereals must be looked for in India in the next 

 few years. There is no doubt that something of the late 

 enormous rise in their prices has been due to actual scarcity 

 induced by the appropriation of the land for cotton. This is 

 being rapidly remedied by extension of tillage, and the prices 

 must shortly come down to their proper level. Many circum- 

 stances indicate this as the position of prices at present. It 

 may be hoped then that before long it will remunerate foreign 

 capital to engage in some one of the numerous agricultural 

 pursuits possible in these regions, on a sufficiently extensive 

 scale to lead to the importation of masses of labour from the 

 hives of population on the coast. At present cattle-breeding 

 would seem to be the most promising opening, both because it 

 wants the fewest hands, and because the absence of roads is 

 of less consequence in such a business. Whether it would not 

 remunerate the Government to take the first steps in the 

 settlement of these unimproved parts of their property may 

 be a question. The Indian Government has already led the 

 way in many such enterprises with success ; and signs are not 

 wanting of willingness to do so again where the case is made 

 sufficiently clear. It certainly appears to me that the con- 



