ideous demon from a land which is peculiarly liable to drought, and while
the people are chronically unprepared to meet the least extra drain, is
more than can be expected from any government.

The railroads of the land are manifestations of the material progress
which meet one on all sides. In the extent of its railroads India is the
fifth country in the world. Already the splendid railway system, upon
which travel is as comfortable as, and perhaps cheaper than, in any other
country in the world, has extended 23,000 miles and reaches the remotest
parts of the land. These throbbing arteries carry life and enterprise to
all portions of India; and many regions not yet made thus accessible will
soon listen to the neigh of the iron horse and feel the pulsations of new
life thereby. Three hundred million pounds sterling have been expended in
this work alone.

But better, if possible, than these roads is the rapidly developing
irrigation system which brings security of life and works prosperity
wherever it reaches. Nearly 14,000,000 acres are now cultivated under this
system. This includes fourteen and eight-tenths per cent. of all
cultivated land in India. One great enterprise in this line is the "Peryar
Project" of South India which was large in its conception, perfect in its
execution and is rich in its blessings. It consists in the diversion of a
large river which vainly poured its treasures down the western
mountainside into the Arabian Sea, and causing its waters to flow into the
eastern plains to fertilize the thirsty land as far as the Bay of Bengal.
It embraces the second largest dam in the world, a tunnel one and
one-fourth miles through the mountain, and many miles of distributing
channels. It will irrigate at least 150,000 acres for rice cultivation and
will feed 400,000 people. I live in the heart of the region thus
fertilized and refreshed, and know the joy of the residents who also stand
astonished before the magic power of these white people who do for them
what, they say, even their gods failed to accomplish. It is well to
remember that these irrigation schemes, now found in India, are much the
most extensive in any country.

Looking at her commerce during the Victorian reign alone, we see a growth
of 1,000 per cent. in the imports and exports of India. The export of tea
has risen from nothing to 70,000 tons, and that of cotton from nothing to
220,000 tons. There are now in the land 150 cotton-mills with 150