186 REPORT—1863. 
They do not eat dal or curry, and the oil is used only for anointing their 
bodies. The town labourers take three meals daily, the first consisting of 
the remnants of the last evening’s meal, and all classes take the rice-gruel 
_with their other food. Such labourers earn from six to twelve pice a day; 
but where only three or four pice are obtained, the midday meal is dispensed 
with. The Indian corn is parched or ground into meal, and eaten with water. 
The lower classes are dissolute and drunken. The jail dietary is ample, and 
the labour exacted is small. Compared with free labour, it is as follows :— 
Convicts, rice 24 ozs., dal 6 ozs., vegetables 4 ozs., salt 1 0z., oil 1 0z., massalah 
1 oz.; whilst the free labourer has 4 ozs. of dal and 1 oz. of massalah, and 
2 ozs. of fish alternating with the dal. (Diet No. 12.) 
24. Dr. B. Knnpart, Midnapore, gives the daily free dietary as follows :— 
rice 24 ozs. to 28 ozs., vegetables 4 ozs. to 6 ozs., dal 2 ozs. to 4 ozs. once 
or twice a week, and fish when they catch any. Besides these two meals, 
parched rice and molasses or sweetmeats are eaten once a day. Most of the 
farm-labourers have cows or goats, and take milk and ghee in small quan- 
tities, whilst in towns they buy a little duhee and buttermilk. The Mus- 
sulmen also eat flesh, but irregularly. The Sonthals and Dhanghurs eat rats, 
squirrels, and some species of snakes. Bowrees eat cats and decomposing 
animals which have died in any way. The Swalghur or Kucher caste eat 
jackals, crows, and carrion. The jail dietary of 1858 (diet No. 13 appended) | 
was deficient in fresh vegetables, and caused much sickness and mortality ; 
and that of 1862 is insufficient in rice. The dietary varies with the race, 
labour, and day of the week, that of Sunday being the non-labouring scale. 
(Diets Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4.) 
25. J. H. Gursz, Esq., Moorshedabad, states that the free dietary is as 
follows :—coarse rice 24 ozs. to 32 ozs., dal 4 ozs., vegetables 2 ozs, to 4 ozs., 
and fish 2 ozs., besides condiments ; and with 4 ozs. of onions for the Maho- 
medans. In the eastern districts attah is used with rice. There is the 
morning meal of 4 ozs. of rice, and the two regular meals at one to two P.M. 
and eight to nine p.m. They smoke tobacco before and after eating. They 
are undersized and unhealthy. Many suffer from disease of the spleen and 
diarrhea, due probably to the ill-ventilated huts and badly located dwellings, 
The jail dietary is sufficient ; for although less than the free dietary, the pri- 
soners generally gain in weight. It varies with duration of sentence, and 
on Sundays the short-term prisoners have more food. (Diet No. 8.) 
26. Dr. J. J. Durant, Pooree, states that rice is the staple food, then vege- 
tables, and then dal. Animal food, except fish, is too expensive. They are 
indolent and unenterprising people, living in low, dirty places, and covering 
their skins with turmeric paste as a safeguard against the bad effects of the 
sea air, which causes it to be of a yellow or jaundiced colour. All ages and 
sexes smoke, and drink narcotics. A detailed account of the various foods is 
given; and the daily dietary consists of from 16 to 18 chit.* of rice, or even 
double that quantity, at three or four meals, vegetables 1 to 2 chits., dal or fish 
1 to 4 chits. once or twice a week, parched grain 2 to 4 chits. about noon, and 
salt and massalahs 3 chit. This is sufficient in variety and quantity for an 
inactive people in an equable climate. They are very weak and anemic, and 
should live better, particularly on animal food, and reside in more healthy 
localities. The jail dietary is insufficient in quantity, if not in nutriment, and 
leads to bowel-complaints. The allowance for the labouring convicts is, rice 12 
chits., dal 3 chits., salt 4 chit., oil 1 chit., massalahs 1 chit., vegetables 2 chits., 
fish 2 chits. = 193 chits. (Diet No. 9.) 
* 'Phis is the Cuttack seer = 223 chittaks. 
