| expired, and villages were desolated. When the new crop | came forward in August it had in many cases no | owners.—_Encyclopædia Britannica_, Art. Hindustan. | Other estimates have been that one-third of the | population perished. | | “Alarming want of rain was also reported throughout all | the upper parts of Bengal. Madras was also suffering from | drought, and from the ravages of the enemy, and the | demands for grain caused a scarcity also in Calcutta. | During September, October, and November, the drought | continued nearly all over Bengal, the calamity being most | severely felt in Behar and the Bengal districts north of | the Ganges. A plentiful rain fell in June 1770; but the | hopes of relief from the next crop which were thereby | raised, were disappointed by the overflowing of the | rivers in the eastern provinces; but the new crops in all | the districts not greatly injured by floods were good.” | The famine ceased by the end of the year.—Danvers, 1877. | 1781-83 | India. Famine in the Carnatic and the Madras Settlement. | “The Carnatic had been devastated by Hyder Ali’s | incursions in 1780-81, and the settlement of Madras was | reduced to great straits for food, as the whole country | in its vicinity was suffering from a general scarcity. | Early in 1781 the Government of Madras took steps to | regulate the supply of grain; and the distress | continuing, in January 1782 a public subscription was | raised for the relief of the poor, to which the | Government contributed. This was the origin of the | institution for the relief of the native poor, known as | the Monegar Choultry. Early in October the Government | deemed it necessary to take the supply of rice and | food-grain into their own hands. The scarcity seems to | have come to an end in the early months of | 1783.”—Danvers, 1877. | 1782-84 | India. Famine in province of Sind, including Thar and | Parkar. “When the Kulhora dynasty ceased in 1782, and | that of the Talpors commenced, a very severe famine | occurred, which lasted for two and a half years. During | four months of this time not a grain of corn was | procurable. This famine was caused by the burning of | crops, and the suspension of cultivation during a period | of hostilities. There was also no rainfall for two | years.”—Danvers, 1877. | 1783-84 | India. Famine in the north-west provinces of the Punjab.