cf Hvslandnj in Bengal. 9 



(of which the culture is now general, or which might he 

 generally diifused, as cotton, indigo, arnotto, madder,) may 

 also be deferred. Enough has been said to show that hus- 

 bandry in Bengal admits of much improvement ; or, rather, 

 that the art is in its infancy. 



An icnorant husbandry, \\hich exhausts the land, neg- 

 lecting the obvious means of maintaining itf icrtility, and 

 of reaping immediate profit from the operations which 

 might restore it; rude implements, inadequate to the pur- 

 pose lor which they are formed, and requiring much super- 

 fluous labour ; this again ill divided, and of consequence 

 employed disadvantageous! v, call for aniendn)cnt. 



The simple tools which the Indian employs in every art 

 are so coarse, and apparently so inadeqiiate, that it creates 

 surprise he should ever effect his undertaking ; but the lonjj; 

 continuance of feeble efiorts accomplishes (and mosth- well) 

 what, compared to the means, appears imjiracticable : ha- 

 bituated to observe his success, we cannot cease to wonder 

 at the simplieitv ol" his process, contrasting it to the me- 

 chanism emploved in Eiuopc. But it is not necessary that 

 the complicated models of Europe should be copied in India. 

 A passion lor the contrivances of ingenuity has adopted in- 

 tricate machinery for simple operations. The economy of 

 labour in many cases justifies the practice, whether an ef- 

 fect be produced at a smaller expense, or more be performed 

 at proportionate expense, but with less labour. In Bengal 

 the value of monev, and the cheapness of labour, would 

 render it absurd to propose costly machinery ; but is n<» 

 objection to simple improvements, which, adding little to 

 the cost of the implements, would (it them to perform. 

 more effectually, and with less labour, the ol^ject imder- 

 taken. The plough is amonc the implements which stand 

 most in need of such improvements. 



The readiness with which he can turn., from the occupa- 

 tion in which he has been accustomed, to another branch 

 of the same art, or to a new occupation, is characteristic 

 of the Indian. The success of his earliest efforts, in a novel 

 rmploynient, is daily reniarked with surprise. It is not so 

 miicli a proof of ingenuity and ready conception, as the 

 effect of slow and patient imitation, assisting a versatile 

 habit necessarily a^-quircd where the division of laboi. •• is 

 imperfect; and though its performance may surpass cx- 

 pfetation, it must ever fall short of tlic expeditious and 

 finished p(Tformanecs of the expert mechanic, whose skill 

 ib formed by constant practice in a more circu^nscribcd oc- 

 tjupation. 



The 



