OBSERVATIONS ON . IRRIGATION WORKS IN INDIA. 163 



8s. M. in tlie Punjaub. It is not likely that water could be 

 supplied for this crop from wells, by any mechanical means, at 

 a price which the cultivator could afford to pay; for spring 

 crops, which require less frequent waterings and smaller 

 quantities of water, wells are at present largely used, and it is 

 possible that windmills or some other power may in time 

 supplant animal power which is now used. In Madras there is 

 no special i*ate for water, the charge for which is amalgamated 

 with the hind revenue. 



I have before mentioned that one of the duties of the great 

 majority of women in India is to draw and convey to their 

 dwellings the water required for domestic use. Where the 

 spring level is high, that is where water is within 20 to 25 feet 

 of the surface, most cultivators have a well of their own, and 

 the burden on their womankind is not great, but there are parts 

 of the country where it is necessary to sink wells to a deptli of 

 100 feet or more to obtain water. In tliese places wells are 

 costly to construct and are few in number. The High Level 

 Canal, in Orissa, passes through a locality of this description, and 

 previous to its construction the women, who lived in the villages 

 near it, had to go from 1 to 3 miles for water, which they carried 

 on their heads in large earthen vessels. The exercise, no doubt, 

 gave theiu a very erect carriage, but it was exceedingly burden- 

 some. The canal was accordingly looked on as a perfect god- 

 send, and the satisfaction of the women at its advent was doubt- 

 less great, though owing to their retiring disposition the canal 

 engineers did not liear their views on the matter. The village 

 priest was, however, much struck with the blessing that had 

 been bestowed on them, and whenever he saw me he uplifted 

 his hands and solemnly blessed me for the boon whicli he 

 thought I had been the means of obtaining for his flock. It is 

 sometliing to have the value of one's work recognized, and I 

 always felt grateful to the old man for his benediction. 



I hope that I have not wearied you with the somewhat 

 technical language the subject on which I liave been speaking 

 has compelled me to adopt. Irrigation officers are all 

 enthusiasts, and it is sometliiug to have adopted a career in 

 which there can be no doubt that the work carried out has been 

 for the good of the country in which one's lot has been cast. 

 There is the further and more general question, whether with 

 all the great things which England has done for India, of which 

 irrigation is only one, it is, as has been asked by an eminent 

 publicist, possible to render the country prosperous in the 

 sense that frugal comfort will be the reward of industry. 



