INDIAN FAMINES - Institute for Social and Economic Change

60 RECENT FAMINES.
pitable shore. The Orissa Famine Commissioners
remark: "The only ordinary mode of communication
with the outside world is by the
route traversing its length. That, however, is
so much intersected by streams, already mentioned,
and has been hitherto so little rendered
practicable by art, that it is comparatively little
used by wheeled carriages. Pack-bullocks still
predominate at all times; in the rainy season
wheeled traffic is quite impracticable; and
when the rains are heavy, even pack-bullocks
cannot be used."
Perhaps the next point that should be noticed
was the delay of the Government to recognise
that there was a famine in the land. The difficulties
attending this aspect of an impending
famine will be referred to in another chapter.
In this instance, it was not till October that
any fears were entertained "It was," the
Orissa Famine Commissioners write, "the peculiarity
of this occasion that a very few days
made all the difference between good crops and
the most extreme failure. When the middle
of October passed without signs of rain,* the
.. I.e., any further signs of rain.