Indigo in Shahabad. 105 



ryot or tenant takes money advances from the fac- 

 tory on the understanding that he will sow so much 

 indigo in opium lands, after the opium season is 

 over. He is paid, according to agreement, either by 

 the bigha or by weight ; the rates in some places, 

 in my time, used to be six factory maunds, weighed 

 on a steel-yard, to the rupee. At other factories, 

 various rates per bigha prevailed, ranging from ten 

 to twenty rupees. The crop under consideration 

 was sown towards the end of March and all through 

 April, after the land had been relieved of the pre- 

 vious opium crop , irrigation being effected generally 

 by means of a mote or moth. The following descrip- 

 tion of the apparatus is about the best I have seen, 

 and I give it here in full : 



" The moth consists of a leathern bucket made 

 out of single cow's hide, varying in capacity from 

 1% to 3^ cubic feet; the edges of the leather 

 of the bucket or bag are turned over an iron ring 

 from \y to 2 feet in circumference, and three iron 

 stays welded to the ring at equidistant points at one 

 extremity, and also welded to one another, provided 

 the necessary attachment for the rope. 



"This rope, generally made of buffalo's hide, 

 I inch in diameter, is passed over a rude wooden 

 pulley supported by a forked rest, firmly fixed at 

 the lower end, and inclining over the well's mouth 



