in the fraudulent hope of concealing its capabilities. In no district as yet has any such summary procedure been found possible; if it is sanctioned for Bulandshahr, and works well, it will be a matter for unqualified congratulation.
Cereals are the great staple of the country; but there are also nearly 68,000 acres under cotton, while the number of indigo factories has now risen to 195. The soil, which is naturally fertile, and of very uniform character, has the further advantage of almost universal protection from drought; being largely capable of artificial irrigation from the distributories of the Ganges Canal. This flows through the whole breadth of the district in three wide and nearly parallel branches, one to the east, the other two to the west of the central Kálindi. Thus, the terrible famine of 1877 was here almost unfelt. No poor-houses or relief works had to be started by Government, nor had any steps to be taken to stimulate the importation of food-stuffs. The grain accumulated in more prosperous seasons, was extracted from the pits in which it had been buried, and sold greatly to the profit of the dealer, but at the same time, not at utterly prohibitory prices; while the credit of the tenant still remained so good, that he was able, if necessary, to negotiate a temporary loan without permanent embarrassment. Gangs of starving vagrants from Mathura, Bharatpur, and other centres of distress, plodded along the main roads; but the able bodied among them gradually found work in the Municipalities or elsewhere, and the utterly helpless were kept alive by the daily dole of food that was freely given by the larger landed proprietors in the villages, and by wealthy traders in the towns. It may, therefore, be considered as established by a recent and crucial test, that the district is practically secure against any ordinary calamity. But to map out the entire area—as has been proposed—in deeper and lighter shades of color according to a nice calculation of possibilities, and to determine, once for all, that such and such tracts will be entitled to relief in time of drought, and that others can always do without it, seems as unpractical a project as an attempt to construct a permanent chart of the clouds in the sky. If accurate observations are maintained, the occurrence of a storm and its probable intensity may be predicted, and precautions taken to minimize the danger; but circumstances must be treated as they arise, and no region in the world, by virtue of long previous exemption from misfortunes, can be marked off as absolutely secure for ever from special visitations of
