210 ON ORISSA PROPER 



to circumstances to from 2 Rs. 3 As. to 2 Rs. 6 As. per maund, at the go- 

 lahs. The average retail rate varies from about 2 Rs. 8 As. to3Rupeesper 

 maund. This system of supply has been established only since the be- 

 ginning of 1818. During the last four years, the average of the public sales 

 for consumption within the Mogalbandi, has been 2,00,000 maunds. Mr. 

 Colebrooke considers the quantity of one-fourth of a chittack per diem to 

 be an ample allowance for an inhabitant of Bengal. In Cuttack, an allow- 

 ance of half a chittack is insisted upon by the people themselves as the 

 usual average, when salt was cheap ; and the larger individual consump- 

 tion of the article in this district, is explained by a reference to the pecu- 

 liar diet of the people, the villainous insipidity of which must necessarily 

 require to be relieved by an additional mixture of salt. Abulfazl has ob- 

 served of the Oorias, " After boiling their rice they steep it in cold water 

 and eat it the second day." This stale and unpalatable species of food 



is still universally used under the name of Panbhatta. As the enhanced 

 price of salt under the British government, which certainly amounts to 

 from 400 to 500 per cent, may have somewhat reduced the former consump- 

 tion by the poorer classes, that is the mass of the community, we shall per- 

 haps arrive near the truth by taking a medium between the Cuttack and 

 Bengal allowances. Some deduction too must be made on account of chil- 

 dren under ten years, whose numbers, adopting the average suggested by 

 the Raheng returns, may be estimated at about one-third of the whole po- 

 pulation. The calculation of the quantity necessary for the Cuttack peo- 

 ple will then stand as follows in round numbers : 



Eight and a half lacs of adults, at between one-fourth and one-half 



chittacks per diem, consume annually - Mds. 1,75,000 



Four and a half lacs of infants, at rather less than one- fourth do. Mds. 56,200 



Total consumption, Mds. 2,31,200 



The balance required of about 30,000 maunds, may very well be supposed 

 to be obtained by smuggling, independent of the government sales. 



