BENGAL FAMINE 249 



my power to contribute to their comfort, while God 

 pleases to hold from them the blessing of rain and 

 the country remains parched and unfit for cultivation. 

 The distress of the inhabitants does not only proceed 

 from scarcity of provisions, but in many parts they 

 are without water to drink.' His assistants were out 

 in the district, and all tell the same harassing story. 

 The Indian Amil says that ' Purneah, which was once 

 a plentiful country, retains now nothing but the name 

 of its former abundance. Multitudes already have 

 and continue to perish of hunger.' The European 

 supervisor, Mr. Daniel, adds that the number of dead 

 bodies lying about has infected the air in a fearful 

 degree. In the higher pergunnahs ' I do not believe 

 I should in any wise exaggerate in saying that half 

 the ryots were dead, for if I were to speak from report 

 or what I have seen I should judge the number to be 

 rather more than less.' The information from Jessore 

 runs : ' Things went from bad to worse till mankind 

 are employed in bringing the leaves of the trees from 

 the jungle for food, and they offer for sale their sons 

 and their daughters.' 



Owing to the existence of a great waterway — the 

 Ganges — through the afflicted tract, some supplies 

 were imported from Oudh, but there was the usual 

 unwillingness in that province to permit the exporta- 

 tion of food in times of alarm. Nevertheless, the grain 

 imported into Behar did alleviate the distress. The 

 Resident wrote on May 15 : ' Happily for us, our 

 neighbours did not share equally in this misfortune, or 

 we should have been deprived of those supplies to 

 which so large a part of the inhabitants of this pro- 

 vince are indebted for their present existence.' The 

 mortality he calculates to have already reached 200,000, 

 to which he adds the loss of cattle and the inability of 

 those men who remain to work from the weakness of 

 their bodies. 



In the beginning of June we have another report 



