196 THE DIVISION OF LABOUR 



than the chamar of my description. What I have said 

 of the chamar will apply with little variation to most 

 other classes who live by daily labour and service. 

 The ahir is very often better off than the chamar if 

 he has paid off the advances taken for his cows and 

 buffaloes, and the bind, dosadh, and other inferior 

 castes may, so far as their material circumstances 

 are concerned, be placed in the same category.' 



In order to correct the somewhat too favourable 

 impression which Mr. Rose has given of the condition 

 of the field labourer, I transcribe a detailed account 

 given by Mr. Crooke of a particular individual in this 

 position, who was recognised to be in distress, and 

 who may, therefore, be taken to represent the pauper 

 class of an Indian village. 



' Tijana, chamar, resident of Amirpur, one of the 

 depressed villages which has been injured by inunda- 

 tion and soakage in the lowlands of the Kali Nadi 

 River. 



'■Family. — He is forty years of years, and his family 

 consists of four persons : his wife and himself, a 

 daughter ten years old, and a son of five. 



''Wages. — He lives by labour, which brings him in an 

 average of Rs. 2 4 annas per mensem. He is employed 

 at present by one of the co-sharers in the village. He 

 gets this occasionally in cash and occasionally in grain 

 at current rates, as suits him and his employer. His 

 wife does nothing, except occasionally picking a little 

 vegetables, etc., for pottage. 



'Property. — He has no live stock and no available 

 assets on which anyone would lend him money. His 

 house consists of a small mud enclosure, with a bad- 

 thatched hut, open in front, 12 feet long by 6 feet 

 broad. This contains practically no furniture, except 

 two old cots. He has only one blanket and a bundle 

 of old rags, which serve as bedding. He has a brass 

 drinking vessel {lota), worth 8 annas, one cup {katori), 

 worth 12 annas, one wooden platter, and one earthen 



