1839.] Report on the District of Azimgurh. 85 



Central India, and the Western Provinces. The total quantity 

 for which certificates have been granted under Act xxxn, 1836, 

 from the time the provisions of that enactment came into operation 

 in December 1836, till November 1837, was 1,58,162 maunds. All 

 the raw produce of the district is manufactured into Sugar within its 

 limits, and exported in the refined state. European skill or capital 

 has not yet been largely or successfully employed in the manufacture : 

 this is generally conducted at small native factories scattered all over 

 the districts. There are scarcely any large villages without one or two 

 of these factories, which afford a ready market for the produce of 

 the surrounding country. The largest native factory belongs to 

 Deep Chund Suhoo, and is situated at Decha, in Pergunnah Nizama- 

 bad, about eight miles south east of Azimgurh. The same person 

 has also a similarly large factory at Muchaitee in Jaunpore, just on 

 the southern border of Pergunnah Deogaon, whence a great deal of 

 the raw material is drawn. It should however be remarked, that the 

 juice is expressed, and inspissated, i.e. formed into Goor, by every 

 cultivator himself, at simple mills, and boilers erected in the immedi- 

 ate neighbourhood of his field. The manufacturer confines his labour 

 to converting this Goor into refined Sugar. 



10th. Indigo was some years ago much more cultivated than it is at 

 present : the quantity now annually manufactured is about 1,500 

 maunds. It is reckoned a good quality in the market, and brings a 

 good price, but still neither the climate nor soil is peculiarly adapted 

 to the production of the plant; and whilst Sugar is so much in demand, 

 advances can readily be obtained by the cultivators on Sugar-cane 

 crops, and the facilities of procuring land for Indigo will be diminish- 

 ed. Since, however, Europeans have been permitted to hold land, 

 several villages, or parts of villages, have passed into the hands of the 

 Indigo planters by sale, or mortgage, and in these Indigo can be culti- 

 vated to any extent that may be found profitable. 



11th. About 1,700 maunds of Opium are annually produced in the 

 district. This, at the cost price of 300 rupees per maund, would bring 

 upwards of 5,00,000 of rupees into the hands of the agriculturists. 

 The cultivation of the Poppy is at present confined almost entirely to 

 the Keorees, a class of industrious cultivators, some of whom are to be 

 found in almost every large village in the district, conducting the gar- 

 den cultivation in its immediate precincts. They are generally tenants 

 with rights of occupancy, or at will, and are very seldom themselves 

 proprietors of the land. They constitute almost a separate community, 

 having Mahtoes or Sirdars from amongst their own body, through 



