3di 



The rate of interest varies with the circumstances of the case and the 

 necessities of the borrower ; it is probably seldom or never less than 

 12 per cent, per annum^ and not often above 24 per cent. ; of course 

 the poorest and most necessitous ryots have to pay the highest. 



8. A ryot of this class of course lives from hand to mouth; he 

 rarely sees money except that obtained from the Chetty to pay his 

 kist; the exchanges in the out- villages are very few and they are 

 usually conducted by barter. His ploughing cattle are wretched 

 animals not worth more than from 3| to 6 rupees each (7 to 12 

 shillings) and those perhaps not his own, because not paid for. His 

 rude and feeble plough costs, when new, no more than 2 or 3 shil- 

 lings ; and all the rest of his few agricultural implements are equally 

 primitive and ineflBcient. His dwelling is a hut of mud walls and 

 thatched roofs, far ruder, smaller, and more dilapidated than those 

 of the better classes of ryots above spoken of, and still more destitute, 

 if possible, of anything that can be called furniture. His food and 

 that of his family is partly their porridge made of the meal of grain 

 boiled in water, and partly boiled rice with a little condiment ; and 

 generally the only vessels for cooking and eating from are of the . 

 coarsest earthenware, much inferior in grain to a good tile or brick 

 in England, and unglazed ; brass vessels, though not wholly unknown 

 among this class, are rare. 



9. The scale of the ryots descends to those who possess a small 

 patch of land, cultivated sometimes by the aid of borrowed cattle, 

 but whose chief subsistence is derived fi*om cooly labour, either 

 cutting firewood and carrying it for sale to a neighbouring town, 

 or in field labour. The purely laboring classes are below these again, 

 worse off indeed, but with no very broad distinction in condition. 

 The earnings of a man employed in agricultural labour cannot be 

 quoted at more than 20 rupees a year, including everything ; and 

 this is not paid in money, but in commodities. As respects food, 

 houses, and clothing, they are in a worse condition than the class 

 of poor ryots above spoken of. But I will endeavour to describe their 

 circumstances a little more particularly. 



10. The regular agricultural laborers are usually engaged at the 

 commencement of the season for the whole year. It is customary 

 to advance them a small sum, about 5 or 10 rupees; as a sort of 

 retainer, which, however, is to be repaid when the connection ceases. 

 Frequently they remain without change for years; when a man 

 desires to engage with another master, as he will rarely have been 

 able to accumulate money to pay off the advance received, tjhe sum 

 advanced by the new master goes to pay off the old one. These 

 yearly laborers receive a certain allowance of grain every month, 

 which is usually fixed by the custom of the locality ; and at particular 

 seasons, some regular, others occasional, the master makes the servant 

 a small present, also fixed by the local custom. When the wife or 

 children of the laborer work in the fields at weeding, &c., they 

 receive daily hire in grain ; and laborers not engaged for the whole 

 year, but only at particular times, are paid in the same manner. The 

 rates of hire are very low. The daily rate varies in different parts 

 of the country ^from 8 pies (one penny) to 1 anna (3 half-pence) ; it 



