1840.] Memoir of Sylhet^ Kachar, ^ adjacent Districts. 821 



been accompanied by those consequences which have been observed in 

 other countries similarly circumstanced, and that while the industry 

 exhibited in the cultivation of the petty taluks by their proprietors is 

 very admirable, the want of capita], by which their capabilities might 

 be increased, is but too apparent. I am not however sure, that the 

 physical comfort of the people is as yet diminished by this circumstance, 

 for it is certain that the means of subsistence are in abundance, and I 

 have no hesitation in saying, that I have no where seen a population 

 among whom the ordinary wants of nature were so easily and cheaply 

 supplied. But though there is an efficient and permanent demand for 

 produce, the want of capital, or rather its excessive dissemination, 

 effectually prevents the adoption of means by which the cultivator 

 might derive from his land those profits, which it is calculated to yield. 

 I must here meet an old and often urged objection, that it is the 

 Government exactions which check improvement, by observing, that 

 this is one of the lowest taxed districts in India, the average rate of 

 assessment being somewhere about four annas per head, or one rupee 

 one anna on the adult males alone, while the wages of labour are 

 from two and a half to three rupees a month. A rate therefore which 

 exacts on an average the value of ten days labour from each man in the 

 year, cannot be considered excessive, at least when compared with the 

 average for all India, which is above seven times higher. It is there- 

 fore to the dissemination of capital that the absence of improvement 

 is entirely attributable, and the state of the land tenures therefore in 

 this district is well worth the attention of the Indian financier, shewing 

 as it does the condition to which, under the existing laws of inheritance, 

 every province in India is tending. 



No cultivator, whether proprietor or ryot, ever follows agriculture 

 here as a speculation, or ventures to till a larger quantity of land than 

 can be conveniently managed by himself and the members of his family, 

 and if he raises grain sufiicient for his annual expenditure, and a sur- 

 plus equal to the payment of the Government revenue, his operations 

 are considered successful. He employs the spare time, of which he 

 has abundance, in other pursuits which do not require a capital, or only 

 a very small one in money. Thus the more considerable proprietors 

 after letting the portion of their taluks which they do not find it 

 convenient to cultivate themselves, often engage in the conduct of 



