The Manager. 29 



goes up to the High Court, but this is not an every- 

 day occurrence, and a manager may have one or 

 two during his whole term of management. The 

 revenue-cases go to the Commissioner or Board of 

 Revenue, and the fiat of the latter is final. 



I will close my description of the office functions 

 of the Manager with a cursory glance at that section 

 of his work which is called in the planters' " shop " 

 language "doing mamlaks" (i.e., negotiations) for 

 leases of land and villages. Here the Manager 

 comes into direct contact with the zemindar, the 

 latter generally waiting upon the former at his fac- 

 tory. Indeed, it is in most cases the impecuniosity 

 of the zemindar which leads him to seek the Mana- 

 ger, whom, in his heart, he considers only a shade 

 better than the mahajun (usurer). But his needs are 

 urgent, and the mahajun presses hard upon his flank. 

 The factory is his last resort. The usurer's rates of 

 interest are iniquitous ; the Manager's demands are 

 fair, if his terms are hard. Early and late the zemin- 

 dar betakes himself to the factory, and the Manager 

 receives him in his katchary. Then ensues a time 

 of hard swearing over " cooked " papers on the one 

 part, and protestations and much unbelief on the 

 other : 



" My village is the fairest field for indigo in Behar. 

 Where can you find such lands and such rates ? " 



