172 raniganj coal field. [Pt. II. Chap. II. 



compelled a much larger number of men than usual to have recourse to 

 the mines for subsistence, and this circumstance has, doubtless, largely- 

 contributed to the great increase in the quantity of coal raised. 



Santhals, when procurable, are generally preferred to other work- 

 men. They are, however, seldom to be obtained, and, when obtained, 

 rarely remain long in regular employment. 



The miner's pay is high. They are paid by the quantity of coal 

 raised, and the usual price paid, in 1859-60, was 5 pice (one anna and 

 three pie) per bucket of 6 maunds of round coal. This has since been 

 increased in some mines, if not in all. A good 

 workman can get out 3 buckets a day, the aver- 

 age is about 2i, giving more than 3 annas a day.* They are not paid 

 for the rubble or dust coal produced. The boys and girls, who carry 

 the coal from the hewers to. the pits, and who are employed in picking 

 coal, &c, above ground, receive from 3 to 5 pice (9 pie to 1 anna 3 pie,) 

 the " gin"-women 5 to 6 pie (1 anna 3 pie to 1 anna 6 pie,) according 

 to their age and strength. But they do not obtain this every day, 

 for they keep so large a number of holidays that they only work, 

 on an average, twenty-three days in each month. Allowing for this, a 

 family of a man and his wife, with three children, will earn about 

 9 Rupees a month, about treble the pay of an ordinary peasant or cooly 

 in the neighboring district. All look well fed, even the children, but 

 otherwise they are little, if at all, improved by receiving better pay 

 than is usually the case with their countrymen. They seldom, if ever, 

 save ; they have none of the thrifty habits of the Bengalee, although 

 they have his propensity for running into debt. They are lazy and 

 debauched, their surplus earnings being dissipated in the grog-shop, the 

 invariable appendage to every colliery. The state of morality among 

 them is as low as it can possibly be ; in short, they are precisely what 

 might be expected of a nearly savage race, with unusually large pay. 

 * I have heard of miners making as much as 9 annas in a day. ■ 



