45§ 
CANARA. 
ment in 1799 ; too much praise cannot be given to Major Monro, 
who first formed its civil arrangements, or to Mr. Ravenshaw, who 
succeeded him. In fact, it is impossible for a province to be in a 
more flourishing state; and I must, in a great degree, attribute this 
to the total absence of Zemindars, the occupier holding the land 
under Government, without any intermediate tenant, and paying 
what may be considered as the value of a quarter of the produce. 
No man holds an estate of more than the annual value of five 
hundred pagodas. The revenue is collected by native officers, with- 
out the necessity of calling in the military to reduce refractory 
chiefs to obedience ; the laws are strictly enforced, but are never 
used as instruments of oppression ; cultivation is rapidly extend- 
ing itself ; the inhabitants are contented, and increasing in riches; 
the Government is undisturbed by tumults, and yearly receiving 
an additional revenue. How different has been the state of the 
province of Malabar, which has naturally equal advantages, from 
,the moment we received it to the present day ! 
Tippoo had, during his reign, driven the Zamorin and the Nairn 
Rajahs from Malabar, as completely as from Canara, and they 
were wandering in distress among the jungles, when the former 
province was ceded to Lord Cornwallis. Unfortunately his Lord- 
ship was impressed with the idea, that it was advisable to have large 
landholders, and that the Nairns were an amiable race, who had 
been pruelly oppressed ; Mr. Duncan was therefore sent down to 
restore the Zamorin and Nairn Rajahs to the privileges they had 
held prior to the Mussulmaun conquest, but at the same time to 
establish British courts of judicature, where causes were to be deci- 
ded apcordiiig to British laws. The Rajahs, agreeably surprised by 
