212 Statistical Report on the Northern and [No. 38, 



These two leases Sur bastu and Ijaru are granted commonly for 

 a term of nine years : but this is by no means constant when the vil- 

 lage falls into the hands of the Government agent, consequent on 

 the Zemindars or Pat ells failing to make good their engagements, 

 or to accede to new terms on the expiration of a lease : the revenue 

 of such a village is collected by the Government authority, and paid 

 direct into the treasury, with the deduction however of the Zemin- 

 dars acknowledged dues. Setting up Zemindaries to auction is 

 never practised in the Nizam's country, although the right of Go- 

 vernment to resume lands and confiscate the claims of refractory 

 or bankrupt Zemindars, is insisted on, and sometimes, though rare- 

 ly, is put in execution ; the truth is that the local authorities are 

 too weak to resort to such an extreme measure. The delinquent, 

 however guilty, commands the sympathy of all his brother Zemin- 

 dars, who regard him as a martyr and make common cause with 

 him, in so much that in the case of his being ejected they will fur- 

 nish him with means of getting back his rights, or setting the lo- 

 cal authorities at defiance. A bribe to the minister at Hydra- 

 bad or some of his underlings is the shortest and most effectual 

 means to this end, but other measures less direct and more un- 

 scrupulous are also employed to effect it. Two examples which 

 were reported to me will illustrate this. A few years ago the 

 Zemindar in the immediate vicinity of Hunnumconda, the Kusbah 

 of the "Warungul Sircar, had become deeply indebted to Govern- 

 ment, and had evinced a turbulent and rebellious spirit ; certain of 

 his villages by way of punishment were taken from him, and given 

 to a respectable Coonbee of the name of Rugonah, who stood 

 deservedly high in the estimation of the Government Officer. 

 This unfortunate man had scarcely been a year in possession, 

 when he was found inhumanly murdered in his own house. His 

 body was mutilated with his nose and ears cut off, and carried 

 away, it was thought as trophies. The actual murderers were dis- 

 covered and hanged, they w T ere low caste men, who could have 

 had no personal animosity towards their victim, but there was not 

 a Zemindar in the Sircar who was not by the general voice sus- 

 pected to have been privy to the crime. His fate excited univer- 

 sal sympathy among the ryots, by whom he was much beloved and 

 respected, and who still speak of events as occurring so many years 

 before or after the slaughter of Rugonah, 



