418 



It may appear equally extraordinary to an European to see 

 the washerman mentioned among those who have a stipulated 

 portion of grain. The Hindoo females in general do not wash 

 either their own or their husbands' clothes: a public washerman, 

 attached to each village, performs that office, which 1 believe is 

 hereditary in his family; and for this duty he receives his portion 

 of grain from the cullies. The washing in India, both for Euro- 

 peans and natives, is performed without doors; if possible near a 

 running stream; if not, on the margin of a lake, where the linen 

 is beat violently against fiat stones, or large blocks of wood, 

 placed for the purpose: this mode of cleansing soon destroys the 

 linens of Europe ; but has no bad effect on the Indian cottons. 



The cullies just noticed, are farm-yards, or receptacles at the 

 different villages, for the general produce of the lands at the 

 close of harvest. There the cotton, oil-seeds, and all kinds of 

 grain are accumulated for the inspection of the zemindars, and 

 officers of government, previous to the assessment for the revenue, 

 and usual appropriations. The cully contains the thrashing floor, 

 where the corn is trampled upon by oxen, the immemorial custom 

 in the east. Here also are large receptacles for cotton, formed by 

 digging holes in the earth, lined with cow-dung, and filled with 

 cotton as picked from the bushes; which are then covered with 

 clods of dried earth, rubbed over with a cement of cow-dung, to 

 preserve the contents from the weather. 



In some places the cattle and implements of husbandry belong- 

 to individuals, who receive their proportion of land from the 

 patell, to cultivate at their own expense, and to furnish their cattle 

 and seed-grain. At the settling of the jummabunda, they pay 



