CHAPTER VI
IRRIGATION AND NAVIGATION
Irrigation
Prelimi- IRRIGATION works, the object of which is the artificial appli-
nary. cation of water to the land for purposes of agriculture as
a means of supplementing the natural rainfall, although almost
unknown in Northern Europe, have existed in India, as in
most other Eastern countries, from time immemorial. This is
a natural result of the conditions of climate. India contains
large tracts, such as the deserts of Sind and the South-western
Punjab, which are practically rainless, and in which cultivation
without irrigation is impossible. There are others, such as the
Deccan plateau, where cultivation is exceedingly precarious,
owing to the great irregularity of the rainfall and the long
intervals during which crops may be exposed to the fierce heat
of the sun, and to dry and scorching winds. In such regions
there may be an almost complete failure of crops in a year of
short or badly distributed rainfall, and a succession of two
or more unfavourable seasons might result in famine. In
other more favoured tracts, such as the Himalavan submontane
districts, a serious failure of the rainfall is seldom or never
known, yet here also irrigation works, which are usually of a
simple kind such as can be constructed by the people them-
selves, are of the greatest value in improving the out-turn of
the crops. Lastly, there are districts which ordinarily receive
so copious a rainfall that rice is almost the only crop grown;
but for this water is required at certain critical periods when
there may be a break in the rains, and a full harvest can only
be secured by irrigation'. In general it may be said that the
security of the harvest depends on the existence of some form
of irrigation in almost all parts of India, except in tracts such
as Eastern Bengal, Assam, or Lower Burma, where the average
rainfall does not fall short of 70 inches per annum. As might
1 For a full account of the rainfall conditions, see Vol. I, chap. iii,
' Meteorology.'
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