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counts under his name. The sum which he is to pay is always 
mentioned in the title-deeds; and the government has a right to 
prevent any division that is not in proportion to the value of the 
lands alienated; otherwise the revenue might suffer greatly. The 
proprietors allege, that the tax amounts to more than the rent; 
and that they are obliged to borrow money, or to give part of 
the profit from the lands cultivated with their own stock, to ena- 
ble them to satisfy the claims of government. Those whom Dr. 
Buchanan assembled to give him information, and most of whom 
were as fat as pigs, gravely told him that they were reduced to live 
upon kctnjee , or rice gruel. From what they say, therefore, no estimate 
can be formed of the share of the rent which they pay to govern- 
ment. Every one thinks himself bound to conceal the truth, and 
none more so than the native officers of revenue. Every step, 
indeed, seems to have been taken, by a chaos of weights and mea- 
sures, and by plausible but false accounts, to keep the state of the 
country a profound mystery.” 
This last quotation may not, perhaps, be generally interest- 
ing; but I have introduced it, because the subject of landed pro- 
perty in the British dominions in India, has lately occupied the 
attention of the different governments and boards of revenue; 
and is more largely discussed when treating of the agriculture and 
revenue of the districts under my charge in the province of Guzerat. 
Dr. Buchanan concludes his observations in the country near Man- 
gulore, with a remark which is generally applicable throughout 
India: “ That the universal cry of poverty, and the care, owing 
to long oppression, with which every thing is concealed, render 
it very difficult to know the real circumstances of the cultivator: 
