administrator, securing a devoted loyalty from his subordinates, and inspiring them with his own enthusiastic zeal, but no less as an executive officer and master of minutest details. The very grass growing on the margin of the river, by which the formation of sand banks may be modified, has to pay tribute to this far-seeing engineer. The central act of the drama now ends with the order of Government cordially congratulating Colonel Cotton and his officers on the complete success of the work — an order to be shortly followed by Colonel Cotton's promotion to be Chief Engineer of the Presidency.

But if the fate of the great experiment is no longer in doubt, so that the chief excitement of the story is ended, there is abundance in the remaining chapters to keep up the interest of the reader to the end, illustrating as they do in vivid and picturesque detail the nature of this truly sensational contest against the combined forces of man and nature.

Immediately after the record of the triumphant completion of the work there follows such a chapter of accidents that one is disposed to think all congratulation has been premature. We have to remember, however, that the history is spread over a long period; that five-and-forty years separate us from the date when the work was completed; and that such works are, after all, not self-supporting. Through these years alterations and repairs and new works follow each other so thickly, that it almost seems as if the whole design has been recast. Yet it will be seen that the victory has been a real and gigantic one, and that there has been no failure in the large promises held out from the first, notwithstanding that in the interval the initial estimate of 16 lakhs has been swelled to the

undreamt-of figure of 130 lakhs of rupees expended on the Godavery delta.

In the first year after the completion, one of the main locks at the head of the delta collapsed, and had to be rebuilt at heavy cost; and five years later, in that year of disaster to India, 1857-and as if in sympathy with the political convulsion-a huge breach was made in the main anicut. Similar minor catastrophes have followed in later years, but through all there has been no shadow of anxiety as to results, and no outlay that has not been abundantly recouped.

Exceptional interest attaches to the account which follows of one of the most exciting episodes of the history, in the building of the Gunnaram Aqueduct, the great artificial water-way which crosses one of the arms of the Godavery and serves with water from the river a tract of 32,785 acres. The photographs here inserted give a clear and intelligible picture of the nature and importance of this great structure, while there is no lack of excitement in the narrative of an almost unexampled race against time under circumstances of extraordinary difficulty. There are special features, too, in the story which stamp it as something altogether unusual, and seem to justify the enthusiastic terms in which it has been always mentioned by the profession.

For example, it was in pursuance of an ancient native principle that the masonry pillars of the aqueduct have for their foundation shallow wells of eight feet in a bed of pure sand; while there is sensation enough in the story of how the bricks were burnt on the spot, how their size was gradually increased till one brick formed a man's load, and how, so great was the haste, that these monster bricks

were borne from the kiln to the works when so hot that they could hardly be touched by hand.

When it is further remembered that, among the six thousand natives employed, not one was a skilled workman, and that this great work-as it still stands was finished within three months of its commencement, we can understand how Colonel Baird Smith, an eminent officer of the Bengal Engineers, on visiting the spot in the following year, could hardly find words to express his astonishment and admiration. "Anywhere," he says, "it would have been a noteworthy achievement, but under the circumstances it was an extraordinary feat." For this exploit the credit was due to Lieut. (now General) Haig of the Madras Engineers, of whom Colonel Cotton recorded that he had "never yet seen such energy displayed by any other man." But the whole chapter will repay perusal, ending as it does with some general remarks on the policy of public works in India, which may well be laid to heart at the present day.

The interest of the next succeeding pages lies mainly in the incidents of the hot official warfare which raged round this gigantic enterprise from beginning to end, and which seems to have been in no way relaxed even when the victory had been assured. The records teem, we are told, with remonstrances from Colonel Cotton, and with replies, "now wrathful, now penned more in sorrow than in anger," on account of surprises sprung on the authorities in everincreasing demands for funds. Well worth reading, as a commentary on Indian administration, is Colonel Cotton's despatch of November 1852 (sent direct to Government in violation of all ordinary routine) with its pent-up

indignation, restrained only by the soldier's sense of discipline; its withering complaints of the want of support; its entreaty for inquiry and inspection, for his "disappointment is that too little, not too much, interest has been shown respecting the works."

An angry reply from the Governor seemed likely to bring things to an impasse, but the tide had happily turned, and the next report was so highly encouraging that henceforth money was more readily granted; so that on one page we find a list of sums sanctioned on these works at thought of which a few years earlier the revenue authorities would have stood aghast. The pace now quickens, and in 1882 we have a notable despatch from the Secretary of State in which the total expenditure of £1,300,000 is reviewed, and which contains a cordial and gratifying acknowledgment from the Home Government of the success of the works.

We are now rapidly brought down to the year 1891, when a full report is submitted on the "Construction Estimates" by Mr G. T. Walch, the able compiler of the present record, who was himself for twenty years in charge of the works as Chief Engineer for Irrigation.

How completely the tone of those in authority had now changed we may read in the order of Government on this report: "In recording the completion of this magnificent project, which, while amply remunerative to the public exchequer, has conferred tenfold benefits on the people of the district, the Governor in Council cannot but claim for the works that, in conception and execution, they are such as any State might well be proud of."

The two following chapters, filled though they are with technical and

professional details, contain a mass of information of great general interest, rendering complete in every detail the history of the construction of this monument of engineering skill.

Before parting with our author, we are acquainted with the actual main results of the work in the two great departments of Irrigation and Navigation.

As regards Irrigation, it is well known that rice, the staple crop of the district, requires throughout its growth an abundant supply of water; and under this head we may be content to learn that "it enables valuable crops to be grown with certainty year by year over 1000 square miles, where without it there would be but a com. paratively small area of uncertain cultivation; and it thereby not only prevents the famines which used to ravage the district, but provides a large surplus of food grains for export to less favoured regions." Incidentally we gather also that the "aggregate length of irrigation distributaries in the whole Godavery delta system is nearly 2000 miles." Moreover, a further indefinite extension of the irrigated area seems to be only subject to provision for the regulation of the water-supply of this inexhaustible river-which, while excessive during one period of the year, is inadequate at another.

For such a state of things the main remedy seems to be arrangement for the storage of water, of which even yet vast quantities "flow uselessly to the sea." And it is to measures for effecting this on an adequate scale that the attention of hydraulic engineers will probably be devoted at an early date, whenever the value of water to India is fully understood and its utilisation undertaken in earnest.

On this most important subject

Sir Arthur Cotton has long ago written with great earnestness, pointing to the noble example set by the natives themselves in their innumerable works, and showing that "there are very few countries that have such facilities as India for the storage of water, which he regards as "one of the very first questions" in the management of the country, for "the returns from it alone would be far beyond those from any gold-mine."

Under the head of Navigation we catch sight for the first time of one of the principal battlefields of Indian administration, a field where the fight still rages, and where the victory is even yet not finally declared, though the spoils of war have so far gone almost exclusively to one side. In the great war of canals versus railways the genius of Arthur Cotton has for years maintained an unequal struggle against the advocates of land-transport; and notwithstanding such evidence as is furnished by the too little known story of the 'Conquest of the Godavery,' his opponents have hitherto prevailed.

The case for and against the employment of irrigation canals for navigation is here presented with great fairness, and if it is made clear that there are difficulties in the system, and much room for development in the means of transport by water, the net result, as illustrated by the example of the Godavery delta, seems to be a distinct triumph to those who have so strenuously maintained the superiority of water-carriage over land-transport for India-both as regards economy of construction and cheapness of carriage.

An interesting comparison is added with the Erie Canal in the New York State, where after many trials steam is now increasingly used. But we need not go to the far West for an example of

how water carriage has been the making of great countries. Nothing is perhaps more striking in these papers than to learn how much knowledge of practical engineering was possessed by natives of the East from very ancient times. And if India has had her early hydraulic engineers, we may go still farther East and learn a lesson from the great Imperial canal of China, which serves, through a course of near 700 miles, for both irrigation and navigation, and regarding which we read that "the fertility of its soil and the advantages resulting from the internal navigation afforded by the great canal and its numerous branches, have rendered this plain" a plain seven times as large as that of Lombardy-"the most populous spot on the earth.”

As regards irrigation, signs are indeed not wanting that some effect has been produced by the spectacle of the contrast presented this very year between the irrigated districts of India and those.dependent only on the aid given by a network of railways. So high an authority as the LieutenantGovernor of the North-West Provinces-the most famine-stricken region of the continent-writes as follows in reviewing his Provincial Budget estimates for the current year:

"It is an interesting fact that the total area irrigated by canals will, for the first time in the history of canals in these Provinces, exceed 3,000,000 acres, and that the receipts, direct and indirect, of the canals will, also for the first time, exceed a crore of rupees. The estimated value of the crops raised on canal irrigated lands is likely to be more than twelve times that sum, or about 50 per cent more than the total capital cost of canals from their beginning to the present time. The whole of these crops have been secured by canals, and but for

them, a very large portion would never have been sown."

There is at least nothing visionary in such a statement as this, and the pity is that it should have to be followed by the Times' correspondent's pointed remark that "the annual Imperial grant for irrigation is still only 75 lakhs, while over ten crores yearly are being allotted to railways." For that it is in the reversal of these proportions that the salvation of India lies, the story of the Godavery delta is surely enough to prove.

Meantime the lesson has not been wholly lost, and the example of the Godavery works has already been imitated with great success in the Bengal provinces of Orissa and Behar, and in the Punjab, as well as in the North-West Provinces. On this subject much light is thrown by a most interesting lecture lately read to the Society of Arts by Sir Charles Elliott, one of the first authorities on Indian famine, who takes a broad and statesmanlike view of the whole question. Nowhere has more emphatic testimony been borne to the efficacy of water as the primary agent in dealing with famine. By fact and figure the lecturer demonstrates not only that "irrigation is the only possible remedy for drought," but that wherever the remedy has been applied, there is perfect immunity from famine, and this at less than no cost to the State; for while in nearly every case the works are even financially remunerative, the least "paying" of them have at all events saved the region affected from both the expenses and the horrors of famine. The lecturer

proceeds to show that the result even of the partial adoption of this remedy is that "the irrigated area raises half the food-supply required by the entire country."

It is a surprise, therefore, to find that, with such evidence before him, Sir Charles Elliott here turns aside, and abandons as hopeless any attempt to place this one acknowledged panacea in the forefront of our future measures. With strange inconsistency he argues that "a famine arising from drought is a calamity which human efforts are unavailing to prevent." "For," says he, as if with conclusive emphasis, "canals cannot be constructed everywhere"; for success in their construction certain conditions are essential, and "there are not many tracts which satisfy these conditions"!

We wonder who was consulted before this lamentable conclusion was reached. The point is not revealed; but on this high authority the word goes forth that it is not to prevention but to mitigation only that we can look, and even the Secretary of State feels quite happy in drawing the conclusion that "railways are almost a panacea for the mitigation of famine." Be Be it remembered here that the famine is upon man and beast alike; that on their cattle largely depends the welfare of the population, and that in the railway there is at least no salvation for cattle.

We are far indeed, however, from having any quarrel with railways, which in their place are invaluable. We grudge only the absorption, by this avowedly partial remedy for the evil, of the lavish funds which would suffice for one of an infinitely more farreaching and permanent nature. What is wanted, in short, is that certain elementary truths should be borne in upon the minds of all who have at heart the welfare of India. These are: That India can be set free for ever of famine only by an adequate supply of water to the land under cultivation; that in the great river - systems of the

peninsula there exists a supply of water abundantly sufficient for this purpose; that at present in the greater part of the country (as in the Godavery delta prior to 1847) almost the whole of this plentiful supply (a supply of untold value) is allowed to flow uselessly into the sea; that, given the engineering skill competent to deal with the continent on a large and comprehensive plan, there is no reason whatever why the greater part, if not the whole, of the area should not be permanently rescued from all fear of scarcity; that the cost of such plans would be as nothing compared with that already devoted to railways; and that once the necessary hydraulic works were in active operation, the outlay on their construction and maintenance would be repaid again and again in the ever-increasing prosperity of the country.

When the truth of such propositions has been fully realised by public opinion, no long time will elapse before the necessary steps are taken, and among them we may look forward to a modification in the direction given to the training of our Indian engineers. Whenever Cooper's Hill devotes its energies more exclusively to the subject of hydraulic engineering, there will be better hope for the future prosperity of India than there is at present.

But there must be no hasty submission to the apparently impossible, and the spirit which should animate our teaching is that expressed in some well-known lines of Arthur Clough, where the forces of outward Nature—

"Rise to provoke thee against them; Hast thou courage? enough, see them

exulting to yield.

Yea, the rough rock, the dull earth,

the wild sea's furying waters (Violent, say'st thou, and hard, mighty thou think'st to destroy),