328 SEVENTH REPORT—1837. 
the apparatus of metrology is characterized by clumsiness in con- 
struction ; rough stones are commonly substituted for stamped 
metal weights, and joints of the hollow bamboo for authorized 
definite measures of capacity. The seer of weight was directed 
by the authorities at Poona and Ahmednuggur to be of eighty 
Ankoosee rupees, and such a weight may be in use where the 
district officers are located, but in very few other places. With 
respect to measures of capacity, not only has each village its own, 
but I might almost say that each shopkeeper has his own, for it is 
rare that the weights and measures of any two shopkeepers are 
identical; and when it does occur it must be referred to acci- 
dent. Even the stamping of weights and measures by govern- 
ment officers has not been effectual to insure uniformity ; for ina 
table that I drew up of the discrepancy between the weights 
and measures of some scores of places all over the country, 
very many of the weights and measures had the government 
stamp upon them. 
One feature of the measures of capacity is, that, with some 
exceptions, those of villages are always larger than those of 
towns and cities. The extent to which this fraud has been carried 
in military cantonments and large bazaars immediately under 
British control, is shown in the fact of the reduction of the 
Serroor cantonment seer, one-twentieth below the standard of 
Poona city, one-fourth below the standard of Ahmednuggur city, 
and two-elevenths below the measures of neighbouring districts. 
But in Bombay it is still more glaring, the origin of whoseweights 
and measures is unquestionably referrible to the Dukhun and 
Konkun ; and yet the Bombay measure of capacity is 41 per. 
cent. less than that of Poona, and about 33 per cent. less than 
that at Panwell in the Konkun, the nearest great mart to 
Bombay cn the continent. The diminution in the seer of weight 
in Bombay is even more striking. I found the standard seer 
of weight in the collector’s office in Bombay to weigh 4970 
grains troy only, while the Panwell seer weighed 13,110 
grains, and the Poona seer weighed 13,800 grains, troy. The 
Panwell seer therefore was 163 per cent. and the Poona seer 
177 per cent. larger than the Bombay seer. The knowledge of 
these facts is of importance to the European and native mer- 
chant, as well as to the general consumer. 
The evil of a progressive diminution in the weights and mea- 
sures of Dukhun is arrested in the cities of Poona and Ahmed- 
nuggur and the neighbouring cantonments, by standards being 
kept in the collectors’ offices ; but as they are not founded on 
any scientific principles by which they could be restored if lost 
or lessened, their safe custody is of great moment. The seer 
