Oct. II, 1877] 



NATURE 



511 



were left, the rice-fields were deserted, and the famine- 

 stricken inhabitants declared that they would die where 

 their fathers had lived and died rather than migrate to a 

 part of the country that was unknown to them. Ten 

 years after the improvement was made the spot had 

 become a little oasis in the desert ; nearly 200 acres of 

 rice were under cultivation, yielding about thirty bushels 

 per acre, and supporting a population of several hundreds.' 

 Almost in the same neighbourhood a sum of between 

 200/. and 300/. was spent on an old canal fifteen miles in 

 length by the same zealous Government official already 

 mentioned. Many hundreds of acres were brought under 

 cultivation, and in ten years' time, instead of a starved 

 and fever-stricken population of 150 inhabitants, no less 

 than 500 able-bodied men were on the list as liable to the 

 road-tax. The changes in these, as in other instances, 

 took place as if by magic, yet the means employed 

 in effecting them were of the most limited and simple 

 nature. The secret of the success lay in the fact that a 

 famishing and disease-smitten population was within a few 

 miles of the spot, and the remnants of ancient engineering 

 skill were ready at hand to guide the labourers on to 

 certain success. Since the above tentative experiments 

 were made, very great changes for the better have taken 

 place in the condition of the agricultural part of the 

 native population. The carrying out of the scheme for 

 the restoration of irrigation works is recognised as one 

 of the chief duties of the Colonial Government, and 

 there is little danger that, after the real success which 

 has attended it so far, any future Government will allow 

 it to be interrupted. The policy of the Colonial authori- 

 ties may be summed up in the pregnant words of Sir 

 Wm. Gregory's address to the Legislative Council in 

 1S76 : — " I consider that at least 100 tanks should be 

 supplied with sluices, and properly repaired each year ; 

 and I have asked the Secretary of State to furnish me 

 with an additional number of well-trained officers, by 

 whom these works will be earned on with vigour. There 

 is no boon which the Government can confer on the vil- 

 lagers more legitimately than this. It is a reward for 

 their own exertions, and I am confident that each year, 

 as it becomes better understood, it will be more appre- 

 ciated, and that it will be recognised everywhere that the 

 Government have no other object in it than to increase 

 the comfort and resources of the people." It will appear, 

 from what has bsen quoted, that the tanks are not re- 

 paired free' of cost and then handed over gratuitously to 

 the villagers, but the natives are required to give a cer- 

 tain amount of labour in restoring the tanks, and also to 

 pay a small rent or tax on the land cultivated, so Ih.it, 

 whilst the native cultivator is the chief gainer by the 

 undertaking, the Government is no loser. If there could 

 have been a doubt as to the wisdom of the Tank Restora- 

 tion scheme, the experience of the last three years must 

 have dispelled it and proved how absolutely necessary a 

 system of irrigation is to the welfare of the natives. In 

 the address above quoted, whilst speaking of the cholera 

 and other diseases which had visited several of the pro- 

 vinces, the Governor says :— " It is remarkable that the 

 inhabitants of the Eastern Province enjoyed perfect im- 

 munity from epidemics of all kinds. It is an interesting 

 question, on which I do not give an opinion, whether 

 this general immunity from disease in the Eastern Pro- 

 vince is due to the abundant supply of food throughout 

 the populous part of it, the result of irrigation works." 

 At the same time he speaks of the restoration of two 

 of the large tanks as complete. One of these will 

 irrigate 23,000 acres, equal to supporting a population of 

 35,000 persons ; the other will bring large tracts of 

 magnificent land into cultivation, and dissipate the un- 

 healthiness of the district which has hitherto prevented 

 settlement. 



* Irrigated rice-lands in the low country will support population at about 

 <he rate of j,ooo persons to the square mile. 



To look back over the early history of the attempts 

 under Sir Henry Ward to restore the above system of 

 irrigation, is like reading the accounts of the commence- 

 ment of a successful campaign. The difficulties encoun- 

 tered were sufficient to discourage even enthusiastic 

 philanthropists, chief amongst them being the utter dis- 

 organisation of the village communities through the 

 abolition of compulsory labour and the rooted dislike of 

 the natives to migrate from one spot to another. For 

 the recent part of the evil caused by this disorganisation 

 the British Government was alone to blame, for in abo- 

 lishing Rajekaria they abolished the right of compelling 

 villagers to keep their tanks and watercourses in repair. 

 By doing this they practically placed the distribution of 

 the most valuable property of which the natives were 

 possessed in the hands of the strongest, and consequently 

 the most unscrupulous, inhabitants of each district. In 

 a dry season, when there was barely sufficient water to 

 irrigate the fields along the course of a canal, those who 

 who were nearest to the source of supply would probably 

 get more than their share, whilst those who were furthest 

 from it and had an equal claim on it might get none ; 

 but, generally, the strongest party would get the advan- 

 tage, to the ruin of the weaker. Dams would be built at 

 various points along the course of the stream by one 

 party, and as quickly destroyed by another. Intermin- 

 able feuds were the results, and appeals to the courts of 

 law, which, not being guided by native customs, only 

 made matters worse. The canal, too, which ought to 

 have been kept in proper repair by the united efforts cf 

 all who benefited by it, was alloA-ed to fall year by year 

 into a more ruinous condition, after compulsory assistance 

 had been abolished, the residents on the upper portion 

 of it refusing to aid those on the lower to repair the 

 breaches made by the annual lloods. Consequently the 

 work that was done was ill done, and only of a temporary 

 character. Soon it became beyond the power of isolated 

 communities to effect the necessary repairs ; the lands 

 fell out of cultivation, and the population, after a long 

 struggle with their neighbours, either died out or sought 

 a living elsewhere. The early legislation in 1856 was 

 based on a revival of the n.T.tive customs and a compul- 

 sory distribution of the necessary work among* 'h 

 different villages, a majority of two-thirds of the inna- 

 bitants being enabled to place the lands under the 

 Irrigation Ordinance, and to compel the assistance of 

 all who benefited by the supply of water. The scheme 

 resulted in complete success. It met the great wmt of 

 the natives and the interminable disputes about boun- 

 daries and lights of water, which was as much propeity 

 to the natives as the land itself, soon ceased. The 

 Government claimed its own and sold large portions of 

 it by auction at a very reasonable rate, the upset price 

 being generally i/. per acre, the land continuing 10 be 

 chargeable with a yearly tithe to the Government of from 

 3^. to 4^-. per acre. In special cases the Government 

 granted even easier terms in order to induce the natives 

 to settle in particular localities. Newly-purchased land 

 was allowed to be free from tithes for four years, and the 

 purchase-money was spread over an equal period from 

 the time of sale. The pecuniary result was most grati- 

 fying to the Government, and the benefit conferred on 

 the natives inestimable. 



A few words will be sufficient to describe the character 

 of the cultivation which this system of irrigation is in- 

 tended to promote. A crop of rice, or paddy, as the 

 undressed grain is called, requires about ninety days to 

 come to perfection, and during this time it must be sup- 

 plied with about thirty inches in depth of water, or a little 

 over 4,000 cubic yards to the acre. The first and second 

 watering of the paddy takes place within a fortnight of 

 the sowing of the seed, and the water is only allowed to 

 remain on the land for a short time. The three sub- 

 sequent waterings take place about the twentieth, the 



