cSG
DEFICIENCY OF FOOD
because both become unmanageable then , from an unwonted state of prosperity .
In most provinces those who cultivate rice do not eat it , hut sell it to pay their taxes . During the four months the < suk / ia kala lasts , they live on the pulse and millet which they cultivate in their fields . During the rest of the year their only daily sustenance , in almost all cases , consists of
a plateful of millet , seasoned with a little pounded salt and chillies . When after paying their taxes and debts they come to the end of their store of grain , supposing there has been any remnant , they are reduced to living from hand to mouth . Some of them borrow grain , which they promise to repay with interest after the next harvest ; others explore the woods and the banks of rivers and tanks in search of leaves , bamboo shoots , wild fruits , roots , and
other substances which help them to exist , or rather , prevent them from dying of hunger .
Thus for about three months of the year almost threequarters of the inhabitants of the Peninsula are on the verge of starvation . In the south these three months are July , August , and September ; and the saying is that those who have grain to eat then are as happy as princes . The scarcity begins to be less felt by October , for then several of the smaller species of grain are ready for harvesting , and the rains have brought out in the fields quantities of edible herbs , which suffice to allay the pangs of hunger .
Nor are men alone exposed to want during a great part of the year ; domestic animals have to bear the same privations . Most families own cattle , and each hamlet possesses considerable herds which can only graze within the narrow limits assigned to them . The small amount of straw which the crops produce does not last long , and the animals are then reduced to nibbling at the few plants scattered here and there in the barren fields . During the three or four months when the sun is especially hot , all
vegetable life is scorched up , and the wretched animals
can scarcely find enough fodder for their daily sustenance .
They may then be seen searching for clayey soil , impregnated with salt , which they proceed to lick with avidity , and that , together with the water they drink , comprises almost all their food . This is why , throughout the hot