542 On the tenures and fiscal relations of [No. 164. 



the same rates as the former tenant, but at the village rates. If a ryut 

 be absent from his cultivation, he may continue his title to it by 

 payment of the prescribed rent, but should balance of rent remain 

 unpaid at the end of any year, the zemindar may proceed against 

 him under the provisions of Sec. XV. Reg. VII. 1799, and having 

 obtained a decree oust him, under Sec. XVIII. Reg. VIII. 1819. 



Nerick-i- Bunkur is the rate paid for the privilege of cutting wood, 

 grass, or similar products from particular localities; it is occasionally 

 paid in the shape of rent for the ground occupied, occasionally in that 

 of the price of the articles carried away. Generally a particular tract 

 of country yielding Bunkur produce is let at a fixed rent to a farmer, 

 who levies imposts from the men who carry away the different pro- 

 ducts, according to the quantity which they take; the first descrip- 

 tion of rent will be dealt with simply as any other farm, the second 

 affecting the interests of the ryuts will depend very much on local 

 usage ; although it is doubtful whether this can ever have been so com- 

 pletely established as to constitute any prescriptive right to a fixed 

 rate. In fact it is generally levied rather as a toll at the different 

 points of export than as rent, and it does in reality differ from rent, as 

 being rather the price of the article produced, than merely the lease of 

 the hire of the land, although this latter is included in the price, the 

 land being occupied in the production. Nature herself is the labourer, and 

 the fortunate landholder is permitted to enjoy the fruit of her toils ; 

 but Nature contenting herself with production, has left the appropria- 

 tion or reaping to man ; and generally speaking, the labor of collecting 

 and conveying spontaneous produce is far greater than of reaping a crop 

 which is the result of cultivation ; and this labor which has before been 

 mentioned as calculated to affect rent, will materially influence that of 

 land yielding Bunkur produce. The two distinct operations of col- 

 lecting and conveying, are frequently performed by different classes 

 of labourers ; where this is the case, the landlord avails himself of the 

 occasion of the transfer from one to another, as a convenient oppor- 

 tunity of collecting his rent, and perhaps of taking some from each party. 

 The woodcutter brings his log of timber or bundle of bamboos to the 

 purchaser at the outlet of the estate, whatever it may be, the ghat or 

 pass in a mountainous country, the river or roadside in a forest, or an 

 alluvial chur ; the purchaser takes it from each individual, paying some 



