4 SOCIAL SCIENTIST gesting that a host of other factors must have .come into play. This study, besides focusing on basic factors that led to the outbreak of famines in the district of Chingleput, such as the soils of the region (which was comparatively poor)7 and the available irrigation potential and their impact on production and cultivation, also deals with the social and economic factors that led to the emergence of famine conditions, the challenges they posed and the nature of the response from the colonial administration. NATURAL OR GEOGRAPHICAL FACTORS The boundaries of Chingleput district during the nineteenth century were the Bay of Bengal in the east, Nellore in the north, Arcot in the south and North Arcot in the west. Madras was the nearest city. This proximity, while advantageous in terms of the positive fallout of urban economic activity, also brought with it the disadvantages associated with the domination of urban economic activity over a regibn. Soils, Cultivation Practices and Productivity The soils of Chingleput district rarely proved fertile. Among the officially classified four types of soil, namely, permanently improved, alluvial, red ferruginous and arenaceous or sandy, the first two were declared suitable for cultivation and the other two as lacking in terms of productivity.8 Even the alluvial soil (coloured brown) which occurs in regions characterised by a hot and dry climate and low rainfall, soon loses its moisture and becomes baked, rendering the area dependent on irrigation, especially where the alluvium (or mixture of sand and clay) is sandy rather than clayey in character.9 The red ferruginous soil is by far the most common in the district. This soil was highly infertile and typical of barren areas where there was no vegetation. It was utilized for road-making. It is due to this that some tracts of land had to remain uncultivated. However, waste and arid lands were brought under cultivation, and the 1,70,056 acres cultivated in 1928-2910 rose to 5,05,000 acres in 1889-90.11 The cultivation practices followed by the agriculturists of the district were rather primitive and backward. Cultivable land was classified as Nunjai (wet land) and Punjai (dry land) and while paddy was cultivated on the former, varagu, ragi, pulses, etc., were cultivated on the latter. There were two modes in which paddy was cultivated. Sethukkal (sprouted seed cultivation) and Pulithikkal (dry seed cultivation).12 In the first (Settukkal) the land was irrigated by water from tanks and channels, ploughed four or five times and manured with leaves, plants, dung, ashes, etc. The seed corn is put into a pot and steeped in water. When paddy as well as other Punjai grains were cultivated, the Pulithikkal mode of cultivation was adopted. In this case, the fields are fumed up when moist after rain: sheep and cattle are folded on them either after or before ploughing or else accumulated heaps of dung and ashes are mixed with the soil; seeds are sown when