158 
A JOURNEY FROM MADRAS THROUGH 
I 
CHAPTER 4/. 3s. 7(1 a hundred weight, and furnish him with the juice of the 
cane, which he boils down, at the furnace of the cultivators, to -fills 
June ii. of the original bulk, and then carries it home to complete the opera- 
tion. This family is also allowed a village rent-free, as being sugar- 
makers to the court. Such a miserable monopoly of good things 
is a favourite practice in the arbitrary governments of Hindustan. 
Instead of wishing to procure articles of the best quality by giving 
a high price for what they want, the princes of Indict are contented 
with preventing their subjects, by a monopoly, from getting such 
good things as they can ; not reflecting that a prince, by hissuperi- - 
our wealth, can always in the fair market procure better things 
than his subjects. I examined the head of this family of sugar- 
boilers; but what he said concerning the manner of conducting 
the operation was evidently false ; and I did not think it fair to 
press him too closely, as a discovery of the art might injure his 
property. . . 
Sugar-cane. Both Putta Putti and Restali canes are cultivated, and of both 
the white sugar can be made ; but cane that is raised on a rich soil 
will not answer for this purpose, as its juice can never be made to 
granulate. 
Taking with me some sensible cultivators, and a Parputty , I 
shewed them a small plot of cane, and asked how much Jagory it 
would produce: they said, 400 balls at If Seer each. By measur- 
ing the field, and reducing the measures and weights to the English 
standard, I found this to give 13f hundred weight an acre. 
,, In the black soil called Erciy the crop-season commences at Sim - 
ratri feast, or on the 12th of February. In the sandy soil called 
Mctrulu it begins a few days earlier. By this time all the imple- 
ments are brought to the works, and the iron boiler is hired from 
the government at the rate of one Fanam (about Sd.) 3 and one ball 
of Jagory , a day. 
Boiling- The boiling-house is a thatched hut, about forty feet long and 
house. twenty broad, with a door in front, but without windows. The walls 
