22 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



and, in many places, commons are attached to the villages, as 

 in Europe. Lands in Hindostan, and in Bengal most espe- 

 cially, are very much divided and cultivated in small portions 

 by the ryots, or peasants, who pay rent to subordinate proprie- 

 tors, who hold of others, who hold of the rajah. The actual 

 cultivators have hardly any secure basis ; they are allowed a 

 certain portion of the crop for the maintenance of their fami- 

 lies and their cattle ; but they are not intrusted with the seed, 

 which is furnished by the proprietor, or a superior holder. 

 The ryot, or cultivator, is universally poor ; his house, clothing, 

 and implements of every kind, do not amount to the value of a 

 pound sterling ; and he is considered as a sort of appendage to 

 the land, and sold along with it, like his cattle. So little 

 attention is paid to any agreement made with him, that, in 

 good seasons. Dr. Tennant informs us, the zemindar, or supe- 

 rior holder, raises his demands to a fourth more than the rent 

 agreed on. Custom has rendered this evil so common, that the 

 miserable ryot has no more idea of obtaining redress from it 

 than from the ravages of the elements. Since Bengal was con- 

 quered by the British, tiie government is, properly speaking, 

 the proprietor of aU the lands ; and Tennant accordingly 

 observes, that " nine tenths of all the rent of Bengal and the 

 provinces constitute the revenue of the company, who are, in 

 the room of the Mogul Emperor, the true proprietors of the 

 soil." 



The productions of this country, besides those immediately 

 consumed by the inhabitants, are sugar, cotton, hemp, indigo 

 and jute ; and they are all raised by the most primitive modes 

 of agricnlturc. The population is exceedingly dense ; and a 

 large proportion of the products of the soil, which are necessary 

 for food and clothing, is consumed by the inhabitants. The 

 surplus of rice, sugar, and cotton raised in Lidia is not large, 

 and consequently these articles do not enter very extensively 

 into her exports — the home consumption being large, and the 

 labor by which they arc produced being devoid of system and 

 intelligence. And yet India, as a purely agricultural nation, 

 notwitiistanding the defects in her social organization, notwith- 

 standing her want of all modern improvements, furnishes a 

 large amount of wealth to the commerce of the world, and in 

 her political relations to Great Britain, forms almost the right 



