INDIA. 



89 



tion of land assigned to each person as he has the means 

 of properly cultivating. In other parts the custom is 

 diflerent, and the rent is fixed by the agents of govern- 

 ment; these set out on their circuit in September or 

 October, when the early crops begin to be reaped, and 

 the late ones to be sown : if the cultivation is the same 

 as last year, and no failure occur among the Ryots, 

 there is no alteration in the soil : if waste land has 

 been brought in, the full rent i* not exacted for three 

 or four years, according to its previous state : if it ap- 

 pear* that some of the Ryots, from the failure of their 

 crops, cannot pay their rent, the low, or a part of it, is 

 sometimes assessed upon the others ; but this is seldom 

 done. When the land i* in cultivation, and it* rent 

 has been ascertained, the collector give* every ryot a 

 jMfteA, with hi* signature, in which every field he hold*, 

 and it* rent for the year, are inserted. In most villa- 

 ge* the greatest part of the ryots held the tame fields 

 several years. During the intervals of the rent* of the 

 collectors, the agricultural concern* of the village are 

 regulated and overlooked by a complete establishment 

 of hereditary revenue servants. A district pay ing a rent 

 or revenue of 50,000 pagodas, usually contains about 

 100 villages, some of which pay not more than 100, 

 and others as much as 5000 pagodas, annual rent The 

 general direction of the cultivation, and the collecting 

 of the rent, is the duty of the Potail, or head farmer ; 

 the accounts are kept by the Cnrnum. A* won as the 

 season tor ploughing begins, the Potail ascertain* what 

 land each Ryot can cultivate ; and if any are desirous to 

 relinquish part of their farms, he gives it to another. 

 In the early part of the season, the Tehsildar goes 

 round the district ; hi* doty i* to regulate cultivation 

 in those villages which are mismanaged, through the 

 nes^ect er incapacity of the Potail, and to make ad van- 

 ces to the poorer Ryou for the purchase of seed, ploughs, 

 cc Custtist : gon round Again when loc CfujM w 



!.-< '/thli ''thai whirl, *":'/' 



None ot these, however, nave power 



Canara, above the Ghauts, differ from the Brahmins in Statistics, 

 most other parts of India ; for they are very industri- >1 ~"Y"" 1 " / 

 ous, and perform all agricultural operations with their 

 own hands. 



The agricultural labourers in Hindostan are either Labourer!. 

 such as work for hire, or slaves. The condition of the 

 former, as has been already remarked, is by no means 

 unfavourable. His money wages, indeed, are low. In 

 Bengal, where a ploughman is hired by the month, 

 he receives one rupee, in some parts only half a ru- 

 pee for that period ; but, in addition to this, he has an 

 allowance of grain, and at his leisure hours cultivates 

 some land, which he rents from his master at a pay- 

 ment in kind. A herdsman receives, in food, money, 

 and clothing, about one rupee and a half per month. 

 The wages of the other labourers are chiefly in kind. 

 In the neighbourhood of Scrin^apatam, the hire of 

 farm labourer* is six rupees per month ; but in tin- 

 country, at a distance from any large town, it is much 

 lee*. On the Malabar coast, agricultural labour varies 

 from two rupees to six rupees a month. Such a com- 

 paratively high rate, however, it should be observed, 

 includes the value of all that the labourer receives in 

 kind. The average price of agricultural labour in the 

 ceded districts i* about two rupees a month ; and this, 

 indeed, seems' to be about the average of Hindostan, 

 independent of allowances in kind. If, therefore, the 

 very low price of all commodities in Hindostan be con- 

 sidered, and it be further taken into account, that the 

 agricultural labour require* very few of them, we 

 shall be disposed to regard their situation as by no 

 mean* 



The slaves who labour the farms in the south of In- 

 dia, are the absolute piopstty of their lords ; but they slam* 

 are not like the slaves in Russia, flee, attached to the 

 soil : they may -be sold or transferred to any person 

 their master may think fit. Children may be separated 

 from their parents, but a husband and wife cannot be sold 

 separately. In the district of Palighant, in the province 



RjroW had engaged to take, ef Malabar, where the greater part of the labour of 

 have Bower to fix the rent ; the field is performed by slaves of different castes, a 



young man and his wife will sell from 6. 4*. to 7. 

 i there be children, the value will be increased 

 according to their number and ages. They live in tern- 

 porary huts, formed of the bamboo and other wood, 

 like large basket*, which they erect for them- 



this is done exclusively by the collector ; but the Potail 

 fis the Ryots that the tents will remain the same, 



Wy sjsfi**sry ; the, are sssisfieeTwith this issursMBi. 



M oonfifaftutioo of . mu yoke 



piece of land, he 

 quish a part of it. 



ted it with him, he Mat 



hen a Ryot once rent* a 

 leave it, nor even relin- 

 If be were to be deprived of the 



to hold it, and 



psy hi* rent a* usual. Even the widows are oboged, 

 after the death of their busbaads, 



to 



for the 



____ noticed a* the pro* 



in the south of India. In the Car. 

 rent a considerable iiuumin of land ; 

 not held the plough. Mr perform any 

 labour n>re*ety for it* cultivation. 

 Sudra*, are obliged 

 their (lave*. There 

 Sudra* who rent farm* on their 



labour of the wife i* always at 

 ' the ouster of the husband ; the master 

 of the girl having no authority over her, so long as she 

 lives with the slave of another man. 



The women end children of the free labourer*, as 

 well as of the slaves engaged hi agriculture, are princi- 

 pally employed in protecting the seed and cro from 

 the bird*, in those distik-U whe 



en this is not performed 



*** tne y 

 bot they will 



ether part of the 

 The inferior carte., particularly t 

 them, and are in fact 



to cultivate 

 are, however, 



own account, which they cultivate, either by their own 

 labour, or by ilavee. The Mehenserien farmer, in this 

 mdostan are not nnrncTou* : their agricultu- 

 ral labour, in general, w performed by sieve*. The 

 Haiga Brahmin*, who live in the 

 . jui. r*T i. 



CHAP. \. 



Manufacture* Cotton KU Woollen Leather, 

 SmUptire, ffc. Trade and Commerce. 



OF all the various manufactures carried on in India, Muufac- 

 that of cotton claims our first and most extended no- turo, tndr, 

 tice, on account of its antiquity, of its being the eta- " d eoni - 

 ple and most common manufacture of the country, and mcKC * 

 of the variety of the fabrics which it produce*. The 

 province of North perfection to which the natives are known, from the 



M 



