Methods of irrigation practised in India: use of bullocks to raise water from a well. Wood engraving by A.H., 1874.

"The famine In Bengal. … The prevention of such great disasters as this, which threatens to inflict extreme misery on 24,000,000 people, can only be secured by great public works of irrigation, and improved means of conveyance from one district to another. With regard to the benefits of irrigation in India a striking instance was lately seen in the visit of the Viceroy to the Soane Works at Dehree. He there found 100,000 acres irrigated in a few weeks by the new works in their present unfinished state, not a quarter of the project being yet completed, and no doubt much more will yet be watered in time to help in this famine. ... Considering it as a mere matter of money, without reference to the saving of life, the works cost in all £4,000,000, and water 2,500,000 acres. … The two illustrations we have engraved show different modes of applying water to the fields, as practised from time immemorial by the poor husbandmen of India, and likewise by those of China. In the one case a pan suspended by two pairs of cords or thongs is held with both hands by a couple of men on the river's bank, while they now dip it in the stream to fill it with water, now swing it in a sidelong direction to empty its contents into a reservoir of higher level, from which it may pass by conduits across the neighbouring field, and help to fertilise the soil. Another Illustration shows the apparatus of pulleys for raising water from a well by the aid of a yoke of bullocks. …".—Illustrated London news, loc. cit.