co UN. — Profprsa of CufiiviUion. M 

 RYOTs. 



There could not be much to apprehend froni such 

 a low division as the first, for although its tendency 

 Mould apparently be a still *niore ■mimiie .suhili vision, 

 owing to the increase of the population and to the 

 Mahometan law nf inheritance, ye !< the first cause 

 would be countervailed by the checks opposed by the 

 application of new capital, by improvements in eulft* 

 vation ami by individual extravagance; while the se- 

 cond would, as it every day is, be obviated arid its ef- 

 fects evaded by the custom of not parcelling our small 

 landed properties amongst the heirs at law, but of 

 selling them in whole and dividing the proceeds. 



The ryot, who should content himself with raising- 

 no more produce than he and his family could e .;i- 

 sume, would be rather an unprofitable member of 

 society. But this could not happen amongst a large 

 number, for as capital flows in from other places, 

 or is created successively on the soil, so wfH the in- 

 ducement to sell the grant or a lease, lie ium I j 

 and a greater chance be afforded for more substantia! 

 proprietors and farmers being substituted. The noi 

 who can realize 20 dollars for an an acre of land, re- 

 moves to a waste spot, clears the jungle himself, and 

 pays the increased rate of rent without difficulty. 



It is indeed to be apprehended from the late raj id 

 investment of small capitals, — some exceeding two 

 thousand rupees, on land, — that, by the time when no 

 more wa>fe land will remain available, the causes alrea- 

 dy mentioned of increasing capital on the one hand, and 

 of extravagance, improvidence, and indolence on the 

 other, may induce a more unequal distribution than 

 might be wished, and that the small class of proprie- 

 tors who combine in themselves the functions of laud- 

 lords, farmers and la bourns will insensibly melt 

 down and merge in the muss of tenants and labourers, 



uo 7^ 



