184 



v With the general ignorance that prevails regard- 

 ing the condition and circumstances of India, it 

 will be difficult for Englishmen to understand, 

 how difficulties could arise in disposing of questions 

 relating to these matters, in this country. The 

 general belief is, that, in India, there are mil- 

 lions of acres of land unowned and unclaim- 

 ed millions of people starving for want of em- 

 ployment,- and countless heaps of richess gold 

 and silver and precious stones &c. tied up in old 

 stockings and such like receptacles of hoarded 

 wealth. But such an idea, if not purely imaginary, is 

 certainly very wide of the truth, and no means 

 will better serve to dispel the illusion than a concise 

 review of the tea experiment in relation to these 

 questions, with a brief retrospect of the complica- 

 tions that have arisen in disposing of them. 



First) in regard to land, it is a mistake to sup- 

 pose that all the waste and uncultivated land in 

 India, is, like the vast tracts in America and 

 Australia, unowned and unclaimed. Much of it has 

 become waste after seasons of famine. Some has 

 been laid waste by the ravages of predatory tribes 

 or hostile neighbours. More is allowed to lie waste 

 from the indolence of the people, and their un- 

 willingness to cultivate a rood more than is sufficient 

 for their bare subsistence. But the largest portion 

 perhaps, of such land, is uncultivated, waste, forest 

 and jungle, because the people have not the capital 



