1 22 Report on tlte District of Azimgurh. [Feb. 



ment to its share of the produce. If any other than the Maafeedar 

 was in possession of the Zemindarry, i. e. the proprietary right, the 

 settlement was made with him. If the Maafeedar- had obtained the 

 Zemindarry right by legal transfer or by prescription, the settlement 

 was made with him. If he had not obtained the Zemindarry, but 

 seemed to possess other rights as an under tenant or cultivator, those 

 rights were secured to him on easy terms, and he was protected from 

 any encroachment on the part of the Zemindar, so long as he faithfully 

 performed his part of the contract. 



112th. A few tenures were confirmed for life, or in perpetuity. The 

 latter are old religious endowments, which appear to have been held 

 from time immemorial, and to have been respected by all. 



113th. The settlement of this province for twenty years has been 

 formed in the seasons 1833-34 to 1856-7? and extends according to the 

 year in which each settlement was formed from a. f. 1241 to 1264. In 

 all, the settlement has been conducted professedly under the system 

 generally designated as that of Regulation ix, 1833. The adjudication 

 and demarcation of village boundaries prior to survey, the measurement 

 both by Ameens and by professional Surveyors, the determination of 

 the Government demand from general considerations of former fiscal 

 history, and comparison with other neighbouring and similar villages, 

 without a minute scrutiny into the assets of each estate, and the sub- 

 sequent record of proprietary rights and rent rates, are the main 

 features of the system. In particular cases the system may have been 

 a little deviated from, as will hereafter appear, but this arose from 

 peculiar circumstances. 



114th. The former assessment was in general light. The country 

 was imperfectly cultivated. There had been no settlement since 

 1220 f. and subsequent to that period much waste land has been 

 brought into cultivation. There was therefore less caution necessary in 

 fixing the Government demand than where the assessment had formerly 

 been overstrained, and large reductions were called for. 



115th. Very few instances of recusance on the part of the Zemindars 

 ever occurred. It is true that the average of the assessment on the 

 cultivated land is not low, but it must be remembered that the land 

 is very valuable, and pays rates generally much higher than elsewhere. 

 Sugar, Indigo, and Opium are the crops which bring the greatest 

 pecuniary return, and it is satisfactory to bear in mind that the rates 

 were assumed about 1833-34, when all these products were in less 

 demand than general. The advances of the Government for Sugar 

 had ceased a little before that period, and materially deranged the 

 market for that article. The failure of the agency houses in Calcutta 



