1837.] 



from Punak to Kittor, 



389 



a silver ornament on the child of a cultivator in the Dekkan, is 

 nearly as rare as it is common in the Konkan. It may be urged, 

 perhaps, that they are thoughtless, spending their money on feasts, 

 festivals, and marriages ; and that they are less guilty than other 

 Hindus in this respect, I dare not advance, though I may venture to 

 assert that they are not more so than those in other parts of the 

 country, where there is more wealth and greater comforts. The fault 

 rests not then with them, but with the country where they have been 

 doomed to live; and of this such is the poverty, that it must be as- 

 sessed lightly until a little capital has been created among the riots 

 or cultivators. 



It is a general complaint in the Dekkan, and indeed among all 

 classes of natives, that the country is becoming poorer and poorer every 

 day. That the Hindus are much inclined to make such complaints, 

 and sometimes without cause, is well known ; but this is one which is 

 well founded. India is situated, in regard to her commerce with Eng- 

 land, precisely as Europe formerly was in regard to India, where large 

 commercial purchases being made by the former to supply the neces- 

 sities of the state and individuals, little is taken in return by the latter 

 country, which thus drains the other of its specie. This increasing 

 poverty cannot be prevented if resources in this country are not 

 found to render it independent of supplies from England, or its ex- 

 portable produce be not allowed import there on more favourable 

 terms than those now in force. 



In a country, too, like this, where the manure of the dairy is used 

 as fuel, it is difficult to decide what should be done for the improve- 

 ment of the land. It is known, however, that soil is much improved 

 by stagnant water ; and if the natives in favourable situations would 

 be advised to construct earthen bunds for retaining the rains of the 

 monsoon, much of the hilly soil might be converted into tolerable 

 land. Though the inhabitants on the banks of the Krishna appear 

 more comfortable than those of the Dekkan, they were suffering, 

 in common with the latter, from the partial fall of rain during last 

 year. 



The country about Belgaum can seldom or ever want for water, 

 when so many springs are flowing from the hills ; and as the monsoon 

 both there and at Kittor seldom entirely fails, the lands are very pro- 

 ductive, and the condition of the inhabitants good. There is, more- 

 over, a spirit for manufacture among the people in that part of the 

 country, which has, no doubt, bettered their condition, and forms a 

 striking contrast to that of the people farther west.- Journal of the 

 Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 2d, pp. 65, 80. 



