THE FAMINE OF 1837 261 



since 1832, which had caused considerable distress in 

 various localities. The summer of 1837 brought a 

 terrible drought which extended over the greater part 

 of the Doab, and into Banda and Gualior on the west, 

 and over Behar, and as far as Calcutta and Cuttack on 

 the east. July and August are described as having 

 been absolutely rainless, and such were the anticipa- 

 tions of dearth that ■ in Aligarh the baniyas would not 

 produce grain even when payment was offered at their 

 own exorbitant prices.' With the prospect of inevi- 

 table starvation at their homes, the people naturally 

 began to wander ; in August Bulandshahr was already 

 being overwhelmed with emigrants from Marwar and 

 Hariana. In September there were a few partial 

 showers towards the south, but in the upper Doab 

 this month was practically rainless. ' The utter hope- 

 lessness of their case was enough in the minds of the 

 lower classes to justify recourse to violence, and soon 

 in Rohilkhand, Allahabad, Aligarh, Agra, Bulandshar, 

 Gurgaon, Rohtak, and Delhi, neither grain-boats nor 

 store-houses were safe from attack, whilst the public 

 roads were dangerous to travellers, owing to the 

 number of armed men who were roaming about in 

 quest of plunder.' On October 20, John Lawrence 

 wrote from Gurgaon : ' I have never in my life seen 

 such utter desolation as that which is now spread over 

 the pergunnahs of Horul and Pulwul. The people 

 have been feeding their cattle for the last two months 

 on the leaves of trees, and since this resource has 

 failed, are driving them off.' The difficulty of feeding 

 the cattle is often mentioned. From Cawnpore in 

 the beginning of 1838, Mr. Rose wrote: 'There was 

 not, I am told, in 1783 that total absence of vegetation 

 which has caused the present dearth of cattle, and 

 in milk the people then possessed a valuable article of 

 food which is now wanting. . . . To those who have 

 not witnessed the melancholy change it will scarcely 

 be credible that an extensively-cultivated and thickly- 



