INDIGO. 



467 



&om. him to return whatever his lands may produce (which, as has been said, is 

 generally none at all), at the price charged, and receiving the plant from him at 

 six, seven, eight, or sometimes nine bundles for a rupee — much oftener the 

 former than the latter rates. A ryot cultivating alluvial lands, and having no 

 •seed, can hardly ever repay his advances ; but it does not follow that he has 

 been a loser, for he, perhaps, could not value his time, labor, and rent altogether 

 at half the amount ; and as long as this system is kept within moderate bounds, 

 it answers much better than private cultivation to the manufacturer, and has 

 many contingent advantages to the cultivator. 



In Tirhoot similar engagements are entered into with the ryots, who are there 

 called Assam-ees. These engagements with Assamees are generally made in the 

 month of September, on a written instrument called a noviskaun, by which they 

 agree for a certain quantity of land, for five years, to be cultivated with indigo 

 plant, and for which they are to be paid at the rate of six rupees per biggah, 

 for every full field of plant measured by a iuggie or measuring-rod. The luggie, 

 it must be observed, varies in size throughout the district. In the southern and 

 eastern divisions of Tirhoot and Sarun it is eight-and-a-half to ten feet 

 long ; and in the northern and western from twelve to fourteen feet. The 

 Assamee receives, on the day of making his bundobust^ or settlement, three rupees 

 advance on each biggah he contracts for, another rupee per biggah when the 

 crop is fit to weed, and the remaining two rupees at the ensuing settlement of 

 accounts. Exclusive of the price of his maul or plant, the Assamee is entitled 

 to receive two or three rupees per biggah (as may be agreed on) for gurkee, or 

 lands that have failed, as a remxmeration for his trouble, and to enable him t© 

 pay his rent. The foregoing are the principal stipulations of the noviskaun, 

 but the Assamee further engages to giv^e you such land as you may select, pre- 

 pare it according to instructions from the factory, sow and weed as'often as he is 

 required, cut the plant and load the hackeries at his own cost, and in every 

 other respect conform to the orders of the planter or his aumlah (managing 

 man). The Assamee is not charged for seed, the cartage of his plants, or for the 

 cost of drilling. I should mention that a penalty is attached to the non-fulfil- 

 ment of the Assamees engagements, commonly called hurjah, viz., twelve 

 rupees for every biggah short of his agreement, and this for every year that the 

 noviskaun has to run. This is, however, seldom recoverable, for if you sue the 

 Assamee in court and obtain a decree (a most expensive and dilatory process)., 

 he can in most instances easily evade it by a fictitious transfer of his property 

 to other hands. 



The planter generally finds it his interest to get the Zemindar of the village 

 in which he proposes cultivating, to join in the noviskaun, as a farther security ; 

 or he engages with a jytedar, or head Assamee, having several others subordinate 

 to him, and for whose conduct he is responsible. But a still better system is 

 lately gaining ground in this district, I mean that of taking villages in ticka, 

 or farm, by far the best and cheapest plan that has ever been resorted to for the 

 cultivation of indigo. 



"When the planter cultivates the ground himself, it is called in Tirhoot Zerant 

 cultivation. Zerants, or Neiz^ are taken on a pottah or lease for five years, at 

 the average rent of three rupees per biggah. The~ heavy cost attending this 

 cultivation has occasioned its decrease in most factories in Tirhoot and particu- 

 larly since the fall in prices. About a third, I believe, was the proportion it 

 formerly bore to the whole cultivation of the district, but of late such factories 

 only have retained it as cannot procure sufiicient good land under the Assamewar 

 system ; but now that the plan of taking villages in farm is becoming more 

 and more prevalent here, it is very likely that Zerants will be entirely aban- 

 doned. From all the information I have been able to collect, the cost of a 

 biggah of Zerant (ten feet luggie) may be estimated at sixteen rupees ; that of 

 Assamewar is generally twenty- five per cent, less, both exclusive of interest, 

 agents' charges, and private expenses. 



It can only be the reluctance of the ryot to cultivate indigo that induces a 

 manufacturer to grow it himself, for it has been found an expensive plan, profit- 

 able only when the dye is at its highest rate, and even then scarcely furnishing 

 an adequate return. They not only could not cultivate so cheaply as the native 

 laboring husbandman, but ordinarily had to engage extensive tracts of laQd,, 



