1839] 071 the Statistics of Dukfiun. 4U 



There is a perfect community of interest amongst tlie fraternity, however 

 dispersed ; and as they are dissipated, idle, and reckless, they not 

 unfrequently assemble in bands, take to the hills, and commit depreda- 

 tions in the country, and it is necessary to chase them back to their vil- 

 lages by means of the regular troops. They are expert sportsmen and 

 good shots. 



B'tee^s, — Where the Ramoos'^s are wanting, their places are mostly 

 suy p'ieJ by the Bbf-eN, or bv the KoMees ; tlie forn er are low casts, 

 the latter are Shoodn.hs. Tb-ir diity is to afford protection to the vil- 

 lag-es, and they liave eiiher Eenara lands; or fees in grain. In many 

 parts of the country, parficnlHrly in Khand'-sh, the inhabitants of entire 

 villages, and even district are Bheels, or Kohh^es (Coolies). 



Shcteh. — Sheteh is the person by common consent admitted to be the 

 head and spokesman of the mercaiif il.' and trading classes, in places 

 in the districts where they are in sutl.cient numbers to require one; and 

 as combination is universal, he is of some im})ortance in the districts as 

 their organ in regulating prices. The Sheteh is assisted by the Mahajun^ 

 which projierly means a banker ; but, as the colleague of the Sheteh, 

 he is an inferior personage in the districts : both these people, in some 

 towns and villages, have trifling Eenam lands and claims for money and 

 grain ; but on what tenure of service to the community is not very 

 apparent. 



Sitr Patecl, and Sur Deslnnooh, and Sur Desaee^—i A\o\.\\(\. scarcely 

 have introduced any mention cfthe Sur Pateel, and Sur Deshmook, and 

 Sur Desaoe, as it has not come to my notice that they hold lands in te- 

 nure, but their names frequently occur in village accounts as Hukdars,* 

 or entitled to certain rights in money, grain-fees, &c. One of the Sur 

 Pateelships is vested in the great family of Eshwunt Rao Dabareh, of 

 TuUegaon ; and one of the Sur Desaeeships in the ancient family called 

 Chaskur. Captain Grant Duff, in his History of the Mahrattas, makes 

 mention of several Sur Deshmooks, and says, that Arungzebe allowed 

 the old Sur Deshmooks 2 per cent, on the revenue. But the Sur Desh- 

 mookee of modern times which appears in all village accounts, was 10 

 per cent, of the Moghul revenue, exacted by Sewajee from the Moosul- 

 mans ; it was levied over and above the land tax. The sufferers, there- 

 fore, by Mahratta violence were the Mahratta cultivators; and on the 

 whole of the possessions of the Moosulinans coming into the hands of a 

 Mahratta government, the Sur Deshmookee should have been abandon- 



• Huk " a right," andc^ar " a holder. 



