102 Report on the District of Azimgurh. [Feb. 



whole, the Seer may be thrown out of account and the collections 

 from the Assamees divided amongst them, according to their shares. 

 This however is seldom the case. It is more usual to levy a rate on 

 the Seer land, either the same that it would bear if cultivated by 

 Assamees, or some other fixed and arbitrary rate, generally a low and 

 favorable one. The village accounts being thus made up, the profits 

 are divided according to the shares. In this case, if the rate levied on 

 the Seer land is the same as on the Assamees land each parcener 

 can take up as much land as he likes as his Seer, otherwise there are 

 constant bickerings on the subject, for of course the increase of Seer 

 cultivation diminishes the rent roll. 



56th. When however the proprietors live separate, but divide the 

 profits amongst them, it is by far the most common to divide the 

 estate, and each person to manage his own share as he likes. In 

 course of time, however, inequalities arise either in the quality of the 

 land in one share by superior management, or by the gradual en- 

 croachments of one share on the common waste land. This gives rise 

 to violent disputes — some claiming re-partition, others resisting it. 

 These disputes are commonly Called in the district, " kum a beshee" 

 i. e. where the contending parties affirm that the shares are less or 

 more one than another. The man who thinks he has less than his 

 right, claims to pay not according to his ancestral share, but according 

 to his possession. This is not admitted by the other, and default 

 ensues. Estates have thus been often brought to the hammer, at the 

 time when sales by auction were the favourite means of realizing the 

 public demand. Now they constantly lead to attachment of the 

 estate. The only effectual method of terminating such disputes is 

 by re-partition of the whole, presuming, of course,, that participation 

 according to ancestral share be an admitted feature of the tenure. 

 Clause 2, Section xu, Regulation vu, 1822, evidently contemplates 

 cases of this sort, and confers the necessary power on the settling 

 officers. Disputes of this nature are most common in the Pergunnahs 

 of Kowreeah, Gopalpoor, and Atrowleeah Tilhenee, and they also 

 occur in Deogaon. 



57th. But where the proprietary right rests in a community, the 

 profits of the estate are often enjoyed not according to the ancestral 

 shares, but according to some arbitrary apportionment on the Seer 

 land of each proprietor. This apportionment of profit shows itself 

 in the form of a reduced rate of assessment on the Seer land. In such 

 cases the Government revenue is said to be paid or made up by a 

 bachji on the Seer. These tenures of course suppose that each pro- 

 prietor is himself a cultivator, though it may so happen, and sometimes 



