438 Famines in India. [October, 
famine of 1860-61 was a much less awful calamity than that 
of 1837-38. Four years later — viz., in I865-66 — Orissa, 
Bengal, and Behar were visited hy famine, owing to the 
premature cessation of the rains throughout the Lower Pro- 
vinces of Bengal, in the middle of September, 1865. In 
Behar this had been preceded by two years of bad crops. 
The general distress amongst the lower classes was mani- 
fested by a large increase in crime ; village granaries were 
burnt and plundered, and extensive grain robberies — com- 
mitted solely for the purpose of obtaining food — were of 
constant occurrence. In June committees were formed, 
funds raised for the relief of those incapable of work, and 
employment was provided for the able-bodied on public 
works. 
Historical records show that Orissa has at various times 
suffered from terrible famines. Great famines are said to 
have occurred in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth 
centuries of our era. The great famine of Bengal of 1770 
was felt grievously in Orissa, and a few years later, in 
3:774-75, another great scarcity is said to have occurred. 
The last great famine, of the traditions of which the old 
men speak, was in 1792-93, in the time of the Mahrattas ; 
but none of a general character happened in the present 
century before the year 1865-66. For the two preceding 
years the crops had been below the average, and the failure 
of rain in this year was immediately followed by serious 
famine. It was very soon apparent that the consequent 
distress could not be effectually met by local private charity ; 
public works on a large scale were shortly put in hand to 
give employment to the starving population, who were paid 
the ordinary rate of money wages. Notwithstanding re- 
peated applications for permission to import rice, on the 
part of Government, owing to the failure of private enter- 
prise to supply the necessary food to the affeCted districts, 
they were persistently negatived, and the consequence was 
that the works undertaken to relieve the distressed people 
were to a very great degree inoperative, for want of rice to 
feed the labourers. As the famine increased in intensity 
Relief Committees were formed, by whom subscriptions 
were raised and food distributed. At length public works 
and relief works were stopped for want of food, and Govern- 
ment then sanctioned the importation of rice for the relief 
of the sufferers, and in July centres were established for the 
distribution of cooked food. 
In 1866 the Madras Presidency was also visited by 
drought. The two years preceding had been generally 
