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increase of Ian! rent or tax of any kind ; aud the 

 Assamese laborers being all agriculturalists, they, 

 of course, all benefit by the rise in price. I have no 

 hesitation in, stating that there are no peasantry in 

 the World better off than the Assamese/ 



And the reports of all authorities are in the same 

 strain, affording ample testimony to the great 

 increase to the wealth of the North Eastern Pro- 

 vinces, since the introduction of tea cultivation. 



In the North Western Provinces and the Punjab, 

 the Lieuts.-Governor have borne handsome testi- 

 mony to the beneficial influence of European settlers 

 in the provinces under their Government, and to 

 their steady and orderly behaviour; and on the 

 benefits of tea cultivation to the poor people of the 

 Himalayas, I need not enlarge. They will be the 

 same doubtless as they have been, to a small extent, 

 and will be to a great extent, in Assam. Mr. 

 Fortune, who had seen what a blessing this cultiva- 

 tion is to Cbina, and who, if not a practical tea 

 planter, was yet an observant traveller, has well 

 remarked on this head : 



' At present, as a general rule, the natives of these 

 Hills are lazy and indolent, and seem perfectly 

 satisfied with a bare subsistence indeed they can 

 scarcely be said to enjoy the common necessaries of 

 life. Their clothing is miserable in the extreme, 

 and their dwellings would scarcely be considered 

 fit for the lower kinds of animals, I will not say in 



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