270 Description of the country between [No. 10, new seriis. 



inhabitants are so few, and their requirements so easily satisfied 

 that every man is his own artizan. Every man carries a small 

 sharp hatchet for cutting and felling timber, and when he re- 

 quires any wood for building or other purposes he takes his pair of 

 buffaloes to the jungle, cuts what he requires, has it dragged home, 

 and then fashions it with his hatchet. The bazar is not well sup- 

 plied, and many articles commonly met with in the small village 

 bazars of the low country cannot here be procured. 



5. Cattle are plentiful, and though small, good, but sheep and 

 goats are rather scarce. 



6. A pair of good buffaloes can be procured for about 25 

 Rupees ; a pair of bullocks for 10 ; and sheep and goats for about 

 1 Rupee a piece. 



7. Rice sells at about 12 Rupees per Garce ; wheat 25 seers 

 per Rupee, salt 1 anna per ib, and iron I Rupee per maund. 



8. In Jeypore, however, not a single article can a stranger 

 procure, unless the Rajah gives permission to the banians to sup- 

 ply him. The country seems to be sadly mismanaged and mis- 

 governed. The Revenue is about a lack of rupees, about one- 

 third of what might easily be derived from it, were it in better 

 hands. It is principally derived from the land tax, which is fixed 

 at 1 Rupee per pair of bullocks, so that a man, so long as he pay* 

 at this rate, may cultivate as much land as he pleases. 



9. The Rajah is an old man, quite silly and so totally deaf, 

 that he can only be communicated with by means of signs. He 

 is surrounded by a set of scoundrels, who plunder him right and 

 left, and who have of course grown rich in his service. So desti- 

 tute is the poor old man, that his head man, or Manager, who is 

 a most consummate scoundrel, doles out to him one or two Ru- 

 pees a day, to procure for him the common necessaries of life. 



10. From Jeypore to Nagpore the distance is about 300 miles, 

 and from the information I received, I conceive that a road could 

 be very easily made as no Ghauts are encountered, and nothing 

 need be done but clear the jungle, which extends almost the 

 whole way between the places. The population is said to be 

 scanty, and water in one or two places not easily procurable. 



11. There is also a road from Jeypore to Budrachellum on the 

 Godavery, but said to be very difficult, to cross many Ghauts, and 

 to be almost entirely through jungle. 



