57 



may have previously settled such problems to their 

 own satis faction, are still disputed by the ablest 

 economists of our times. 



With the general ignorance that prevails regard- 

 ing the condition and circumstances of India, it will 

 be difficult for Englishmen to understand, how diffi- 

 culties could arise in disposing of Questions relating 

 to these matters, in this country. (The general belief 

 is, that, in India, there are millions of acres of land 

 unowned and unclaimed millions of people starving 

 for want of employment, and countless heaps of 

 riches gold and silver and precious stones, &c., 

 tied up in old stockings and such like receptacles of 

 hoarded wealth.^ But such an idea, if not purely 

 imaginary, is certainly very wide of the truth, and 

 no means will better serve to dispel the illusion" than 

 a concise review of the actual facts of the case. 



First, in regard to land, it is a mistake to suppose 

 that all the waste and uncultivated land in India, 

 is, like the vast tracts in America an^l Australia, 

 unowned and unclaimed. ^Much of it has become 

 waste after seasons of famine. Some has been laid 

 waste by the ravages of predatory tribes or hostile 

 neighbours. More is allowed to lie waste from the 

 indolence of the people, and their unwillingness to 

 cultivate a rood more than is sufficient for their bare 

 subsistence.) [But a large portion of such land is 

 uncultivated, waste, forest and jungle, because the 

 people have not the capital and enterprise to effect its 

 reclamation/) The bursting of bunds, the eccentri- 



