2 AGRICULTURE IN THE TROPICS [PT. I 



various cereals or other crops are sown upon the land in the 

 rains. On a rich, newly cleared land, these give a very large 

 return for a minimum of work, and this method of cultivation 

 is in consequence highly popular, until the country becomes too 

 thickly peopled to admit of it. After one to three crops the 

 land is abandoned, and grows up in scrubby jungle, and may be 

 again chena-ed after 8 50 years. Vast areas of good forest 

 land have been ruined in southern Asia by this destructive 

 practice, and in most countries chena permits for crown land 

 are only issued now under stress of very hard times and failure 

 of the regular crops. 



Land in the tropics may be held in a variety of ways. For 

 instance, in Ceylon the tenure is fully freehold, and the owner 

 of land leaves it to his children, the men taking it in equal 

 shares, as in France. By this means, emigration even to new 

 districts in the same country is rendered difficult, and there is 

 little chance of anyone showing any agricultural enterprise, 

 unless he be a comparatively large holder of land. The ordinary 

 villager owns a mere trifle of land, as a rule barely sufficient for 

 his own support and that of his family. In this way, the 

 land becomes very " ancestral," and the same family may go 

 on in the same place for an almost unlimited number of 

 generations. When the area is small, the ownership is com- 

 monly joint and this still further retards agricultural progress, 

 for all the owners must consent before any change can be 

 introduced. 



While in Ceylon the holder of land pays no tax to the 

 Government, in India he pays a considerable levy upon his 

 land, but most often, perhaps, holds it otherwise freehold. In 

 India, Ceylon, and other eastern countries the ancient system 

 of " villages " prevails, these being divisions of country of 

 500 acres or more, sometimes, but not always, with a central 

 village street or group of houses. Very often some of the land 

 is cultivated, some waste, and most commonly, perhaps, the 

 latter is the joint property of the village, all the villagers being 

 allowed to graze their cattle on it, or to cut wood there. The 

 villages themselves may be "joint" villages, owned in their 

 entirety by the community living in them, who work the land 



