230 THE DIRECTION OF INDUSTRY 



the open market, and, moreover, weighs the produce 

 considerably to his own advantage. ' In the case of 

 any grain, however, which the cultivator may sell to 

 the mahajan, the terms are not quite so hard. There 

 is less chiselling apparently in the weighing, and value 

 is allowed at the market rate at harvest-time.' 



After having discussed the way in which the Indian 

 cultivator raises and markets his produce, I may per- 

 haps help the English reader to realize what manner 

 of man he is by subjoining a description of the way in 

 which he lives from the pen of Mr. William Crooke, 

 than whom few civilians have ever been more inti- 

 mately acquainted with the peasantry of these 

 provinces : 



'To begin with the zemindar, or better -class 

 yeoman : The house of such a man in the western 

 districts is generally an oblong structure, the walls 

 formed either of small bricks laid in mud or of masses 

 of indurated clay, which are piled in layers one above 

 the other, and allowed to harden in the sun. 



* The roof of the living and store room is supported 

 by cross-beams, over which is placed a covering of 

 brushwood, and this is surmounted by a thick layer of 

 tenacious clay, laid in a moist state, pounded down and 

 consolidated by ramming. Such a roof, if properly 

 constructed, affords a good protection from the heat 

 of the sun, and though it often cracks from heat and 

 leaks in the autumn rains, answers fairly well for 

 people who spend most of their time in the open air. 

 Access to the interior is usually through a sort of 

 portico, which is often used as a cart-house or cattle- 

 shed. Inside is a courtyard, in which the family live, 

 and in which the produce or agricultural implements 

 are stored. If the owner be a Mussulman or high- 

 caste Hindu, there is often an inner courtyard, which 

 is reserved for the women. In the outer part the 

 males of the family live, guests are entertained, and 

 the unmarried youths sleep. 



