ney altogether losing its
interchangeable value. In both the people endured silently to the end,
with a fortitude that casual observers of a different temperament and
widely dissimilar race may easily mistake for apathy, but which those
who lived among the sufferers are unable to distinguish from qualities
that generally pass under a more honourable name. During 1866, when the
famine was severest, I superintended public instruction throughout the
southwestern division of Lower Bengal, including Orissa. The subordinate
native officers, about eight hundred in number, behaved with a
steadiness, and when called upon, with a self-abnegation, beyond praise.
Many of them ruined their health. The touching scenes of self-sacrifice
and humble heroism which I witnessed among the poor villagers on my
tours of inspection will remain in my memory till my latest day."

But to meet the famine of 1866 Bengal was equipped with railroads and
canals, and better than all, with an intelligent government. Far from
trying to check speculation, as in 1770, the government did all in its
power to stimulate it. In the earlier famine one could hardly engage
in the grain trade without becoming amenable to the law. "In 1866
respectable men in vast numbers went into the trade; for government, by
publishing weekly returns of the rates in every district, rendered the
traffic both easy and safe. Every one knew where to buy grain cheapest,
and where to sell it dearest, and food was accordingly brought from
the districts that could best spare it, and carried to those which most
urgently needed it. Not only were prices equalized so far as possible
throughout the stricken parts, but the publicity given to the high rates
in Lower Bengal induced large shipments from the upper provinces, and
the chief seat of the trade became unable to afford accommodation for
landing the vast stores of grain brought down the river. Rice poured
into the affected districts from all parts,--railways, canals, and roads
vigorously doing their duty."

The result of this wise policy was that scarcity was heightened into
famine only in one remote corner of Bengal. Orissa was commercially
isolated in 1866, as the whole country had been in 1770. "As far back as
the records extend, Orissa has produced more grain than it can use. It
is an exporting, not an importing province, sending away its surplus
grain by sea, and neither requiring nor seeking any communication with
Lower Bengal by l