f 1,557 miles it empties, into the Bay of Bengal,
1,800,000 cubic feet of water per second, which is half as much again as
the water of the Mississippi, and nearly six times as much as that of the
Nile at Cairo.

It is a land wonderful in the variety of its climates. It is difficult to
imagine greater contrasts than those existing between the various climates
of India--from the eternal snows in the north to the fierce and constant
heat of the tropics in the south; from the practically rainless expanse of
the western plains of Sind to the 600 inches of rainfall which deluges the
eastern mountain slopes. No land is more extensively cultivated and none
gives more fruit in return for human labour than India. The Ganges, by the
abundant silt which it carries, brings fertility and fruitfulness to its
valleys. Even the plains of Sind, which are nearly rainless, are
transformed into life by large irrigation schemes.

Rice, wheat and millets are the three staples of the country. In the
north, wheat furnishes sixty per cent. of the cultivated area. This total
area under wheat cultivation in India is estimated to be equal to that of
all the wheat-fields of the United States. One-fourth of the population of
India lives on rice; and various kinds of millets represent fifty-two per
cent. of the whole cultivation of the land. Though the methods of
cultivation there are primitive and the implements used inadequate for
best results, yet through the rich climatic conditions and the persistent
efforts of the people the land normally yields an abundance of good things
for the support of its inhabitants.

2. The People.

The people of India number, according to the census of 1901,
291,236,000--about one-fifth of the inhabitants of the globe. This
population represents more races than are found in the whole of Europe.
Besides many small tribes, it has eleven nations, the least of which
numbers 2,250,000 souls. Of these nations seven are of Aryan, and four of
Dravidian, extraction; and they differ in physique, temperament and
language. Between the sturdy Aryan on the north and the degraded primitive
people on the plains of the south there is a great gulf. Between the
clever and subtle Baboo of Bengal and the war-like Marahtta of the west,
the bold, spirited Pathan in the north and the passive but enduring
Dravidian in the south, there are many intermediate classes which furnish
wonderful diversity of character and temperament. Amon