249 
In that very interesting work on Ceylon, by the late Sir' 
Emerson Tennent, are accounts of the stupendous works which 
were constructed in that island by former kings and chiefs, 
for the purpose of irrigating that country. 
Similar tanks, and for the same purpose, were constructed 
in various parts of India, and in the present day, under the 
benign government of this country, irrigation canals are con- 
structed with a view to producing food for the inhabitants 
of districts liable, in consequence of the want of water, to 
frequent famine and to great consequent misery. The rain 
which falls in India is confined to a few months in the year, 
during which period several hundred inches are frequently 
registered. The remainder of the year is almost rainless, and 
it is especially at such periods that the inhabitants suffer. 
We, in this country, can scarcely comprehend the calamity of 
25 inches of rain falling in forty hours, which is stated to 
have been the case at the recent accident and land-slip at 
Naina Tal. 
We have no such fluctuations in our more favoured country. 
The rain, though not equally distributed, is generally sufficient 
for all our wants, and enables us to produce most of the fruits 
of the earth in moderate abundance. 
In Sir Emerson Tennenks work on Ceylon, he states (page 27, 
vol. ii.) that in the north of that island, where the influence of 
the monsoon is felt with unequal force and regularity, the 
uncertainty of rain has been counteracted by prodigious arti- 
ficial works for irrigation. Many of the tanks constructed for 
this purpose, though partially in ruins, cover an area of from 
ten to fifteen miles in circumference. 
Kings and petty princes attested the interest they felt in 
the promotion of agriculture by giving personal attention to 
the formation of tanks and to the labours of cultivation. 
On page 422, vol. i., he states : — “ The labour necessary to 
construct one of these gigantic works for irrigation is in itself 
an evidence of local density of population ; but their multi- 
plication by successive kings, and the constantly-recurring 
record of district after district brought under cultivation in 
each successive reign, demonstrate the steady increase of 
inhabitants and the multitude of husbandmen whose com- 
bined and sustained toil was indispensable to keep these 
prodigious structures in productive activity.” 
On page 423 he states : — <e Cultivation was almost entirely 
dependent on the store of water preserved in each village 
tank.” 
He further writes as follows 
The desolation which now reigns over the plains which 
