176 Topographical and Statistical Account of 



appointed and dismissed ; and believe, that Government, in 

 giving up all sorts of state and ceremony, is gratuitously 

 throwing away a powerful means of influencing the people. 



Whether headmen ought, or ought not, to have more power 

 than at present, is a matter for serious enquiry, but need not 

 be entered upon here. 



Revenue. 



With some trifling exceptions^ the sole source of revenue 

 is the tax on grain. 



Formerly this used in part to be paid in kind, (ahmonae) 

 but this gave rise to so much deception and loss, that the 

 plan has long since been abandoned. At present the great 

 majority of the tax is collected by the commutation system. 

 According to this, the average annual produce of each piece of 

 land being estimated, the cultivator redeems that portion of 

 it which would fall to Government. It is to be observed, that 

 the rate of redemption is fixed very low, it being considered 

 that the loss thus occurring is more than counterbalanced 

 by the ease of collection, the fixity of revenue, and the check- 

 ing of deception. In this opinion I entirely concur, and believe 

 the commutation system to be eminently advantageous, both 

 to the rulers and the ruled. The whole process is as follows. 

 The headmen send in lists of the lands, giving the extent and 

 probable produce of each share ; these lists then may be 

 compared with those of former years, so as to expose any 

 fraud, and are then entered in large register-books : addi- 

 tional columns, shewing the tithe, in grain and in money, 

 being added. There is then drawn out a set of tickets, forming 

 in fact, a copy of the register; each ticket containing a memo- 

 randum as to the amount due on each share. After this is 



