THE SECOND YEAK OF THE XADI^AS FAMINE. 181 



for the souls of the perishing Hindoos were liberally cared for, 

 while their bodies were left to shift for themselves. At present 

 there is, in my opinion, nothing which needs so much care, in eveiy 

 respect, as the body of the Hindoo native, and nothing which de- 

 sei^ves so httle attention as his soul. If he is only out of debt and 

 well fed he is happy, and no amount of Christianity can better 

 his moral condition in the least, for he simply will not be con- 

 verted (!) unless he can make money by it. 



The Madras famine ended in the autumn of 1877 with the re- 

 turn of the monsoon rains, and when I quitted the Coimbatore Dis- 

 trict in December of that year, the relief camp was deserted, the 

 special famine officers were returning to Bengal, and the ryots were 

 reaping a reasonably good harvesi 



