140 KUMAKl CULTIVATION. 



" I beg to submit a statement of what I ascertained from the Kumari 

 people on the spot : — 



Es. a. p. 



Expenditure. — Assessment per 1J acre 18 



Two men cutting for ten days, . .300 



Eagi seed, nine seers 4 



Clearing grass for one month, one man, .400 

 "Watching three months, at Es. 2 per 



mensem, 6 



Gathering crop, ... 400 



Es.18 12 

 Receipts.— Eagi, 28 mudas at E. 1, . . 28 



Profit, . Es. 9 4 0" 



But as the Kumari cultivators, who seldom break ground singly, 

 employ their wives and children for all except felling, which 

 they do themselves, the actual expenditure is reduced to the 

 assessment, and that, in secluded valleys, is very often evaded. 

 It is generally believed that one half of the profit goes to the 

 coast saukar, who gives an advance. The Kumari cultivators 

 live in wretched temporary huts and make a very poor livelihood, 

 offering a great contrast to the substantial homestead of the 

 Canara ryot, who is generally well housed, and lives in con- 

 siderable comfort. 



The system of the hill cultivators is nearly the same in dif- 

 ferent countries. The Irulars and Kurumbars on the Nilgiris, 

 the Malaialis on the Shevarais, the Karens in Burmah, the 

 Punam cultivators in Malabar, the Kumari Mahrattais in Canara, 

 all endeavour to obtain a precarious subsistence by scattering 

 grain after burning the jungle, and thus avoid the toil of 

 careful cultivation. 



In a thinly peopled country like Burmah, there is little ob- 

 jection ; but in the limited plateau of Terkad, where the best 

 land is almost all taken up for coffee plantation or fruit-gardens, 

 and in the balaghat taluks of North Canara, where the remaining 

 timber is much enhanced in value, and not more than sufficient 

 for present demands, there are strong objections to this wasteful 

 and barbarous system. I think that in Government forests, 



