VIZAGAPATAM
Violent fluctuations in the amount received are usual in all parts of the district. In Jeypore the annual fall has varied from 46½ inches in 1901 to 105 inches in 1890; in Koraput it has ranged between 40 inches in 1899 and 84 in 1893; in Bissamkatak between 36 inches in 1899 and 65 in 1903; in Chódavaram between 24 inches in 1900 and 80 in 1878; and in Pólavaram between 19 inches in 1896 and 44 inches in 1903. In the plains as a whole the heaviest fall on record is the 70-90 inches of 1878 (the year of the disastrous cyclone referred to below) and the lightest the 24-98 inches of 1896; while in the Agency the maximum known was the 72-88 inches of 1893 and the minimum the 41-32 of 1879.
The district has suffered but little from famines and scarcities.
In common with the rest of the north of the Presidency, it experienced a serious dearth of food between November 1790 and November 1792. In April 1791, 1,200 persons were stated to have died of starvation in the neighbourhood of Vizagapatam, and the transit duties on grain were suspended and the Chief and Council issued supplies gratis to the poor from the public stores.
The failure of the two monsoons of 1823 resulted in nearly half the wet land being left uncultivated and in the dry land crops suffering greatly, so that early in 1824 the price of grain was double the normal. The importation of food-stuffs was encouraged by the removal of the transit duties and the grant of a bonus, employment was given by the State to a number of persons, and the opening of a relief dépót was sanctioned. In October 1824 good rain fell, prices declined and all fears subsided.
The effects of the Orissa famine of 1865-66 were somewhat felt in Vizagapatam, prices rising to famine rates; cholera,small-pox and cattle disease being prevalent; and some emigration to Burma taking place. But grain was sent down by sea in large quantities from Balasore, and by road from Chicacole and Kimedi, and there was little severe suffering.
The north-east monsoon of 1868 failed and some anxiety prevailed until the south-west rains of 1869 proved to be favourable.
In 1871 distress threatened, and Mr. G. Thornhill, Member of the Board, was deputed in November to report on the state of the district and of Ganjám. Between that date and the middle of 1872, when all pressure was over, some Rs. 75,000 were spent upon relief-works in this district, considerable emigration to Gódávari took place, and the Mahárája of Vizianagram authorized
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