276 THE RELIEF OF THE UNEMPLOYED 



merit went on at the rate of over 14,000 daily. When 

 the accounts were made up on February 27 the total 

 number on relief works was found to be 1,381,337, 

 while 315,385 persons were in receipt of gratuitous 

 relief in poorhouses, or at their homes. The total 

 was thus 1,696,722. That day was the flood-mark of 

 the famine. . . . Taking all forms of relief together, 

 the numbers dependent on Government, which were 

 351,093 at the end of December, had risen to 1,305,217 

 by the end of January, and by the end of February 

 amounted to 1,696,722.' 



By the end of February the distress was so wide- 

 spread that many persons who had from motives of 

 pride or indolence or suspicion refrained from seeking 

 the relief works began to come forward for assistance. 

 ' It was noticed that the new applicants for employ- 

 ment or relief were often in an emaciated condition, 

 and compared unfavourably with those who had been 

 prompter in seeking State support. In the earlier 

 stages of the famine people were deterred from seeking 

 or accepting relief from motives which lost force as 

 time went on. Caste reasons were potent, and 

 instances were brought to notice where money doles 

 had been refused or actually returned by villagers 

 because the recipient had been threatened with expul- 

 sion from the brotherhood. Grotesque reports were 

 current among the people unaccustomed to such wide- 

 spread bounty, and ever anxious to discover some 

 hidden motive for it. Rumour had it that everyone 

 who accepted relief was to be subjected to demoniacal 

 influences, or sent across the sea to labour islands, or 

 to people new countries which the Sarkar (Govern- 

 ment) had acquired, or made to apostatize, or marked 

 down for future sacrifices to the deities who are 

 supposed to watch over the stability of great railway 

 bridges. Instances, too, were not wanting of the 

 struggle between natural affection and the love of 

 life. A starving girl refused to take relief unless an 



