IN DiNAJPUR. 3 



are well manured, only one crop in a year. The 

 loamy vallies which do not lie so low as to endanger 

 the inundating of the crop, produce/ not only rice, 

 but also a good crop of mustard, or pulse in the cold 

 season. The land w^hich produces two crops in a 

 year is called Pdlli, and is usually let at a rupee and 

 iialf per Bigha. That which produces only one crop 

 is called Khar, and is usually let at twelve annas per 

 Bigha. 



The people of the district o? D'majpur are, in ge- 

 neral, cxtreniel}^ poor, and their farming utensils are 

 therefore proportionably simple and wretched. A 

 plough drawn by two bullocks, serves to prepare the 

 soil. The plough is composed of four pieces ; viz. 

 the Langal or body of the plough, which is a piece 

 of wood forming two sides of an obtuse-angled tri- 

 angle, the other side being wanting, with a hole near 

 the obtuse angle to admit a staff of wood or bamboo 

 about six feet long, called the Is'. This staff may be 

 called the beam of the plough, and is the part to 

 which the bullocks are yoked, going between them 

 and resting on the j^oke by udiich they are coupled. 

 The ploughshare (Phal) is a flat plate of iron, nearly 

 of a lozenge shape, which is fastened to the under 

 part of the Langal, to prevent its being worn by the 

 soil. The handle is a piece of wood, or bamboo, 

 about two feet long, fastened to the upper extremity 

 of the Langal, and furnished, at a small distance from 

 its upper end, with a pin about six inches long, called 

 the INIut, to assist the hand in guiding the plough. 



The oxen draw double, or side by side, being 

 coupled together with the Jual, or yoke, which 

 passes over the necks of both of them at once. The 

 lower edge, which lies on the necks of the cattle, 



B2 



