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of the Doab is, as formerly shown, 11,102,048 acres.

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This tract of

country would therefore be irrigated to the extent of very nearly one half its surface, a proportion equal to that of the best district west, and nearly double that of the best district east, of the Jumna. In making this comparison, it should not be overlooked that the best districts on existing canals have been selected as standards for the whole Doab, a measure which tends to give a more limited range to the influence of the Ganges Canal than would have been the case had inferior tracts been selected. But we are anxious to avoid all appearance of exaggeration in estimating the benefits to be anticipated from this great work."

Over this wide extent of country, - down this new valley of the Ganges, the steady flow of irrigation will be like a fertilizing inundation, lasting the whole year round. We cannot go through, in detail, with the facts upon which the estimates of the annual returns from the canal, and the probable cost of its maintenance, are based, nor with those relating to the pecuniary value of the crops improved and secured by it.* We must be content to take Captain Smith's summary of them; but in reading his statement it is to be observed that, on every point, he has rather understated than exaggerated the prospective results. There is no need, indeed, of exaggeration in describing such a work and such results. The simple facts, most moderately stated, are sufficiently surprising and eloquent.

"We have shown," he says, "that the canal will add to the revenue of the government the sum of £350,000 per annum; that it will protect from the risk of famine a tract of country, containing upwards of 11,000,000 acres, inhabited by nearly six and a half millions of souls, and paying to the state an annual land revenue of nearly £1,800,000. It has farther been shown that, in the event of a failure of the ordinary rains, agricultural property to the value of seven and a half millions sterling would be secured to the community; that an increase in the produce of the land, valued at £1,200,000 per annum, would be obtained; and that, as compared with the only other available method

*These facts are, in many cases, derived from statistics prepared by order of the government of the North-Western Provinces. This government deserves the highest credit for directing the collection and publication of these and other valuable statistics upon different branches of administration. It is as far in advance of the Bengal, Madras, and Bombay governments in this as in most other respects.

of irrigation, a saving of expense to the amount of two and a half millions annually would be effected."

Two objections have been raised to this great work, which, if well founded, would have diminished, in a considerable degree, the completeness of the satisfaction with which we believe it is to be regarded. The first of these was that the "abstraction at Hurdwar of so large a portion of the stream as 6750 out of 8000 cubic feet per second," would be of very serious injury to the navigation on the river. It has, however, been shown in the original reports on the works, and in the article which has been our chief authority throughout this account of the canals, that there is a great percolation of water through the porous stratum of shingle composing the bed of the upper part of the river, and that this water again "makes its appearance when, at the lower levels of the river's course, the substratum of clay outcrops and the porous shingle bed terminates." In addition to this supply, the volume of the stream is increased below Hurdwar by various tributaries, — so that, notwithstanding so large a portion is originally taken off by the canal, enough will still remain for all the usual needs of navigation. Nor is it to be forgotten that the canal itself will afford many facilities for navigation, and that the revenue from it will supply the government with ample means to improve the channel of the river, if it should be found that the capacities of the stream have been injured, or the interests of the towns upon its banks have suffered by the construction of the works for irrigation.

Another objection has been "based on the supposed insalubrity of irrigation, as exemplified in parts of the existing canals of the Jumna." This objection early excited the attention of the government, and a special committee was appointed for the purpose of examining the existence and character of the danger from this source. Their report was prepared with great care, and is one of much general interest. It conclusively proved that unhealthiness was not a necessary consequence of irrigation by canals, but that it was an accidental consequence, developed in almost exact proportion to the degree in which the canals interfered with the free drainage of the country. In view of these conclusions, the

Ganges Canal has been constructed with the most careful regard to maintaining and improving the drainage of the country through which it passes; and various precautions, recommended by the committee, will be adopted in regulating the use of its waters. There seems no reason, therefore, to believe that the canal will produce any malarious influence within its districts; but, on the contrary, a reasonable ground for hope that the increase of wealth and comfort, which it will bring to the people, may be accompanied with a diminution of disease.

The canal is now approaching its completion, and, before the end of 1854, the waters will flow in it through its entire length. The date of its opening will be a marked period in the history of the North-Western Provinces. Colonel Cautley, who has superintended its construction, with but a short interval, from its commencement almost to the present time, being forced by ill health to retire from the place of Superintendent, has been succeeded by Captain Baird Smith, who, as our readers have long since learned, is fitted to follow with equal steps such a predecessor, and to continue well, and still further develop, what has been so nobly begun. A government is happy that has such officers to fill its posts, and such works to be carried out by them.

We have given so much space to the description of these canals in the North-Western Provinces, that we can but refer, in the most brief manner, to those in the other parts of India. In the settlement of the recently conquered territory of the Punjab, it has been felt that no surer method was afforded of bringing the disorganized, warlike, and restless population into a state of quiet, and of securing the gradual improvement of the people, and their good will towards the government, than by developing the resources of the country by means of canals and roads. Sir Henry Lawrence, a man of the highest character, and one of the ablest officers in India, being at the head of the local government of the Punjab, pressed the subject upon the notice of the Governor-General, and his recommendation being approved by Lord Dalhousie and by the Court of Directors, a canal, known as the Baree Doab Canal, is now in course of construction, which, drawing

its waters from the river Ravee, will extend, with its branches, 450 miles through the heart of the country. Nor is it improbable that the other large streams of the land of the five rivers, may shortly be made use of for a similar purpose.* In the south of India, in the Madras Presidency, works have been constructed to employ the waters of the Cauvery river in artificial irrigation, with the most beneficial results; and others with a similar object are going on upon the Godavery and the Kistnah.

We have now sketched the present general condition of the system of canal irrigation in India. Many curious and interesting details have been necessarily omitted in so brief an account. But the system may be regarded as only in its beginning. Every year, we trust, will see some addition made to the territory watered by canals, and some new stream added to the catalogue of those which are employed in the service of the people.

It is impossible to take a general survey of these great works, even at this distance from them, without a feeling of the heartiest satisfaction that any men should have been able to effect so much good, and should have effected it so successfully. It is a proof not less of the scientific ability of the officers of the East India Company, than of their right feeling and their recognition of the responsibilities of their position. England, as well as India, may be proud of what they have done.

The canals, as we have seen, are productive of benefits beyond those of a merely material character. They are great moral agents. They are the promoters of peace and civilization not less than of fertility and plenty. "Statistical details and magisterial experience," says Baird Smith, in an admirable passage at the close of his work, on "Italian Irrigation," "show clearly that where irrigation, with its pleasant train of consequences, is introduced, crime diminishes, plenty and security prove the best policemen, lawless habits yield to their genial influences, and men who were the Ishmaelites of soci

*It has been proposed to use the Sutlej, in a canal, for fertilizing the "hard desert," which lies to the east of that river. Such a work would have to create, not to benefit, agriculture in that district.

ety fall, without force or constraint, into the ranks of the great army of industry." Nor is their effect to be measured in a single generation; — it will grow with the growing population and increase, year by year, from century to century. They take their place at once with the kindest works of Nature herself, for they partake of her enduring beneficence, her free and equal generosity. The native, whose fields are watered by a canal, will trust to it as he trusts to the changes of the seasons, and to the swelling of the seed in the ground. We can imagine no higher satisfaction than that which may be felt by those who have constructed and directed these works. It is a privilege rarely attained to see the immediate good results of one's labors for others. But in this case, the work is hardly completed before those who have been engaged in it may behold the blessings which it brings. Without a metaphor, it is theirs

"To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land,

And read their history in a nation's eyes."

It is theirs to feel that they have laid a secure foundation for the permanent prosperity of the people whose interests have been committed to their hands.

The contrasts between these works of the English in India, and those left by the previous conquerors of the country, are a most striking exhibition of the differences in the character of their rule. The time of Eastern romance has gone by, but it is succeeded by a happier period of realities. The lustre of Eastern splendor is fading away, but in its place the steadier and clearer light of a generally diffused welfare is beginning to shine. The wealth of a whole people is no longer concentrated in the display of a single court, — but is spread over the land through innumerable channels. When Shah Jehan built the Taj Mahal at Agra, erecting the most exquisite building in the world, as the tomb for his wife, he spent, in its construction, more than twice the cost of the Ganges Canal. The wealth expended on its marbles and mosaics was squeezed, by tyrannical extortion, from a poor and

This building, which more than realizes all that has been dreamed or fancied of the beauties of Oriental architecture, is said to have cost 31,748,026 rupees.

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