Tenures in the North- West Provinces. 93 



system prevailing in the North-West Provinces the 

 so-called htmberwari system. By this system and 

 here the North-West Provinces have enormously the 

 advantage of Bengal every field (cultivated, grass- 

 land, or otherwise) in the village or mouza, even 

 including cattle tracks and the village site, are num- 

 bered at the settlement, and the names of the then 

 tenants of each number recorded in the khesarah, 

 whilst the number is again clearly inscribed on each 

 plot in the naksha or map of the mauza. Thus, each 

 tenant can, by reference to the patwari (or village- 

 accountant), obtain from him a signed record of the 

 numbers of the fields in his possession. The number- 

 ing of each field secures the tenant against the 

 shifting about or exchange of lands, and the confu- 

 sion consequent upon this which obtains, with such 

 miserable results, in Bengal. 



A. Occupancy tenants. Every tenant who has 

 held unbroken possession of the same lands under 

 cultivation for twelve years, has obtained a right of 

 occupancy in that land. The occupation, or culti- 

 vation of the father, or what person soever the 

 tenant may legally have inherited from, gives the 

 tenant in actual possession at the time the right of 

 occupancy. But a right of occupancy cannot arise 

 from a gift of land to the tenant by the landholder. 

 The right must, in all cases, be acquired in strict 



