Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume III

ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. grazing ground. Straight from the trip this official crossed to the south of the river. He found the whole area which had been irrigated bright with the brilliant shining green of a flourishing crop. A little later on, when the harvest was carried to the “ kurrians ” — the threshing floors—he once more visited On the north of the Ganges Plenty and Famine. both districts. could be seen only little baskets of grain on the receive a reward which few others can enjoy so thoroughly as he ? It may be asked, why, if irrigation works can produce these results, canals are not so extended as to prevent famine altogether. Because unlimited expenditure would not prevent famines. Dis*ribu- r ... . . . n tion of Food. Irrigation is not pnysicallypos- sible in all parts which may be struck by fam- ine. There never was a time when, taking VIEW OF THE COUNTRY SUBMERGED BY THE WATER IMPOUNDED BY THE MARIKANAVE DAM. threshing floors ; on the south, great heaps of golden rice. In the one district the people were crowding on to the relief works ; in the other there was no need of them. That year the price of grain was high ; the people in the irri- gated tract sold their surplus at famine prices, and it is estimated, that the extra money they realized more than sufficed to pay their water rates for seven years. Since that time a canal has been designed, and is now nearing com- pletion, to irrigate a part of that tract north of the Ganges which, suffered. Who shall say that the engineer, who sees a canal con- structed and then sees its results, does not India as a whole, the food supply of the con- tinent was insufficient to feed the people. The difficulty has always been to deliver the food to the people, and to do it without demoral- izing them. It is true that the irrigation works of a particular district liable to famine will relieve the tract which is actually irri- gated, and also a zone lying for some distance beyond the borders of that tract. But where irrigation cannot be practised the importation of grain is the only means of relief. An acre of food grain will feed from two and a half to three people for one year ; on this basis it lias been calculated that the existing irriga-