Iviii 



Out of their portions the pungals must repay the farmer the money 

 which he has advanced for their subsistence. The farmers prefer 

 employing padiyals_, when they can be procured ; but among the 

 laborers the condition of the pungals is considered as preferable to 

 that of the padiyals. Six-fifteenths of the whole produce is indeed a 

 very large allowance for the manual laboiA' bestowed on any land, and 

 as the farmer can afford to give it, the rents must be moderate. 



Pdlghat, Churmars, or Slaves. — By far the . greater part of the 



labour in the field is performed by slaves or churmars. These are the 



absolute property of their devaru^, or lords, and may be employed on 



any work that their masters please. They are not attached to the soil, 



but may be sold or transferred in any manner that the master thinks 



fit ; only a" husband and wife cannot be sold separately*, but children 



may be separated from their parents, and brothers from their sisters. 



The slaves are of different castes, such as Parriar, Vullam, Canacun, 



Erilay, &c., and the differences in the customs by which the marriages 



of these castes are regulated occasion a considerable variation in the 



right of the master to the children of his slaves according to the 



caste to which they belong. The master is considered as bound to 



give the slave a certain allowance of provisions : a man or woman, 



while capable of labour, receives two edangallies of rice in the husk 



weekly, or two-sevenths of the allowance that I consider as reasonable 



for persons of all ages included. Children and old persons past 



labour get one -half only of this pittance, and no allowance whatever 



is made for infants. This would be totally inadequate to support 



them ; but the slaves on each estate get one- twenty first part of the 



gross produce of the rice in order to encourage them to care and 



industry. A male slave annually gets 7 cubits of cloth, and a woman 



14 cubits. They erect for themselves small temporary huts that are 



little better than large baskets. These are placed in the rice-fields 



while the crop is on the ground, and near the stacks while it is 



thrashing. 



There are three modes of transferring the usufruct of slaves. 

 The first is by jenmum, or sale, where the full value of the slave is 

 given, and the property is entirely transferred to a new master, who 

 is, in some measure, bound by his interest to attend to the welfare of 

 his slave. A young man with his wife will sell for from 250 to 300 

 fanams, or from £6 4s. l^d. to £7 8s. ll-^d. Two or three young 

 children will add 100 fanams, or £2 9s. 7^d. to the value of the 

 family. Four or five children, two of whom are beginning to work, 

 will make the family worth from 500 to 600 fanams or from £12 

 8s. dd. to £14 17s. 11^. The second manner of transferring the 

 labour of slaves is by kanom or mortgage. The proprietor receives a 

 loan of money, generally two-thirds of the value of the slaves ; he 

 also receives annually a small quantity of rice, to show that his 

 property in the slaves still exists ; and he may reassume this property 

 whenever he pleases to repay the money borrowed, for which in the 

 meanwhile he pays no interest. In case of any of the slaves dying, he 

 is held bound to supply another of equal value. The lender maintains 

 the slaves and has their labour for the interest of his money and for 

 their support. The third manner of employing slaves is by letting 

 them for patom, or rent. In this case, for a certain anr.ual sum, the 



