CHAPTER IV. 



OF THE EIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE OF INDIA IN THE 

 SOIL: EIGHTS OF OCCUPANCY. 



I WILL now venture to discuss the rights of cul- 

 tivators and others in the soil ; but before entering* 

 on this portion of the subject, I will notice another 

 difficulty, and by no means a minor one, in the way 

 of the sale of wastes. I allude to the hucks, or rights 

 of the natives therein, those hucks the scrupulous 

 respect for which Lord Canning- declared to be one 

 of the most solemn duties of the Government of 

 India, and which declaration Her Majesty's Govern- 

 ment most cordially approved. Now it must be 

 borne in mind that the native idea on the subject of 

 these hucks is peculiar and very strong, amount- 

 ing even to the assertion of a right of property) 

 or, at least, of joint-ownership. 'These rights con- 

 stitute occupancy, pre-emption, right of grazing 

 cattle, cutting wood, grass, &c., use of water-courses, 

 and general right to the products of all waste lands, 

 mines, quarries not worked, &c., rights of way, rights 

 to certain municipal offices, family rights, &c. To 

 the general English reader it may appear that little 

 difficulty would beset the path of a Statesman in 

 disposing of rights to which no title could be made 

 out 5 but to all familiar with the early history of 

 Property, and the constitution of society in the Patri- 

 archal form, it will be apparent, that this subject is 



