126 



Some Account, Historical, Geographical 



are sculptured from a soft purplish stone at Tarputri. Cups and vases 

 from variously coloured limestone at Ryelcherroo : here there was a ma- 

 nufactory for gun-flints in the time of Tippoo. Pyrotechny and the art 

 of making gunpowder, are well understood by natives in most large vil- 

 lages, and also that of metallurgy, as far as the smelting of the ores of 

 iron and copper is implicated. Potters, smiths and carpenters are to be 

 found every where, being necessary members of each little village re- 

 public. The basket-makers and stone-cutters are in generally roving 

 tribes, settling temporarily where their services are required. Silk-weav- 

 ing is but little practised. 



Trade. — The principal exports are cotton, indigo, coarse sugar, iron, 

 woollen cumlies, silk and cotton cloths, cotton thread, dry grain and 

 tobacco, chiefly to the eastern coast, Mysore and Southern Mahratta 

 Country. The chief articles of import are betel, and cocoa-nut from My- 

 sore, raw silk, sugar, iron and steel from Mysore, cotton and cotton 

 thread from the Nizam's and Nuwab of Kurnool's territories, and the 

 Southern Mahratta Country. The exports from the Bellary collectorate 

 for 1837-8 amounted to884,5l 1 Company's rupees; the imports to 2,682,463. 

 ■ — Exports from the Cuddapah collectorate to 55,1 17 Company's rupees. 

 Imports 476,263 Company's rupees. 



Land Revenue. — According to Hamilton, it is traditionally asserted 

 that the Hindu sovereigns assumed half the produce in kind, and con- 

 verted it into money at a rate unfavourable to the farmers and culti- 

 vators. The Mussulman princes, after the fall of Bijanugger, also took 

 half the produce in kind, but levied additional duties on the farmer's 

 share, after converting their own into money at the average of the ten 

 preceding years. When the British took possession in 1800, the rayet- 

 war system was introduced by the first collector, Major Munro, with 

 progressive advantage to the state and to the cultivator. The village 

 system, which, assimilates that of the zemindari in the modus operandi, 

 was subsequently introduced, but, I believe, proved a total failure. The 

 modified rayetwar system, which now obtains, was then reverted to, and 

 is briefly as follows* 



The cultivated lands of each village are carefully measured, and as- 

 sessed agreeably to the average value of the crops. The tahsildar, or 

 native collector of each taluk, visits every village under his charge, early 

 in the season, in order to inspect the lands, to grant leases of waste 

 lands, to receive back any which the rayet may not wish to continue or 

 have the means of cultivating, and to settle the probable amount of re- 

 venue for the next season. When the crops are nearly ripe, the Euro- 

 pean collector assembles the rayets of each taluk, examines the esti- 



