J50 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. 



907. The cart, or hackery, has two wheels, and is drawn by two bullocks. The wheels 

 are under three feet in diameter, and the body of the carriage consists of two bamboos, 

 united by a few cross bars, also of bamboo, and approaching each other the whole length 

 of the machine, till they meet at a point between the necks of the cattle, where they are 

 supported by a bar projecting sideways over the shoulders of both. By this the oxen or 

 buffalos are often galled in a shocking manner, and the suppuration which takes place in 

 consequence is, perhaps, not perfectly cured during the whole life of the animal ; the evil 

 being aggravated by the crows, which set upon him as soon as he is relieved from the 

 yoke. Reaping is often performed by pulling by the roots instead of cutting or mowing, 

 and the grain or seed is separated from the strav/ or stalks, by treading with oxeiv on a 

 smooth part of the field. 



908. As no dqyarlment of aration can be carried on without artificial watering, that 

 operation becomes very expensive, and troublesome in elevated districts. In the Mong- 

 heer district of Bengal, a deep well is dug in the highest part of the field. The fields, 

 after being ploughed, are divided into little square plots, resembling the chequers of a 

 backgammon table. Each square is surrounded with a shelving border, about four 

 inches high, capable of containing water. Between the square chequers thus confetructed, 

 small dykes are formed for conveying a rivulet over the whole field. As soon as the water 

 has stood a sufficient time in one square for it to imbibe moisture, it is let off into the 

 adjoining one, by opening a small outlet through the surrounding dyke. Thus one 

 square after another is saturated, till the whole field, of whatever extent, is gone over. 



909. The zvater is raised in large leathern bags, pulled up by two bullocks, yoked to a 

 rope. The cattle are not driven in a gin as ours, but retire away from the well, and re- 

 turn to its mouth, according as the bag is meant to be raised, or to descend. The rope is 

 kept perpendicularly in the pit, by a pulley, over which it runs. From the mouth of the 

 well thus placed, the rivulets are formed to every part of a field. 



910. In the district of Patna the wells are not so deep. Here the leathern bags are 

 raised by long bamboo levers, as buckets are in several parts of this country. In a few 

 places rice is transplanted, which is done with pointed sticks, and the crop is found to be 

 better than what is sown broadcast. 



911. In the hilly districts they neither plough nor sow ; what grain they raise is intro- 

 duced' into small holes, made with a peg and mallet, in a soil untouched by the plough. 

 The only preparation given it is turning away the jungle, and thus depositing the seed. 

 In the vicinity of Rajamahl there are many tribes of peasants, who subsist partly by 

 digging roots, and by killing birds and noisome reptiles. In these savage districts 

 ninety villages have been taxed for two hundred rupees ; and yet this paltry sum could 

 only be made up by fruits peculiar to the situation. The wretched state of these peasants. 

 Dr. Tennant observes, outdoes every thing which an European can imagine. 



912. Harvests are made at diflferent seasons of the year; and as often as a par- 

 ticular crop is collected, the ryot sends for the brahmin, or parish priest, who burns 

 ghee, and says prayers over the collected heap, and receives one measure of grain for his 

 trouble. 



913. The selections we have now submitted will give some idea of the aboriginal agri- 

 culture of Hindustan ; not in its details, but as to its peculiar features. It is evidently 

 wretched, and calculated for little more than the bare sustenance of an extensive popula- 

 tion; for though the revenue of the state is in fact the land rent ; that revenue, notwith- 

 standing the immense tract of country from which it is collected, is known to be very 

 little. The state of agriculture, however, both politically and professionally, is capable 

 of great improvement ; and it is believed, the present government has already effected 

 material benefits, both to the natives and itself. Wherever the British influence is pre- 

 eminent, there Europeans settle, and introduce improvements ; and even the more indus- 

 trious Asiatics find themselves in greater se- 

 curity. The Chinese are known to be a re- 

 markably industrious people, and many of 

 them have established themselves in British- " 

 Indian seaports. Wathen ( Voyage, c^-f. 1814.) 

 mentions, a corn-mill, combining also a bake 

 house, both on a large scale, and driven by a 

 powerful stream of watgr, at Penang, near 

 Madras, as having been established by Amee, 

 a Chinese miller. The building is in the^ 

 Chinese taste, and forms a very picturesque' 

 group in a romantic spot {fig, 141.) About;; 

 sixty people are employed ; though great parfj 

 of the labor is done by machinery, and among^ 

 other things the kneading of the dough. The shipping is the chief source of con- 

 oumptjon. ' 



