32 Indian Forest Records. [Vol. [VIII 
be worth collecting and bringing to market at different levels o 
price. 
The next link in the chain is the Baipari , a wandering trader 
equipped with a cart or a few pack bullocks, who wanders from village 
to village selling salt and other commodities and buying up local 
products of which lac is one. His methods of business are many 
and vary according to the class of person with whom he is dealing. 
With the aboriginal living in the depths of the jungle his dealings 
are generally in kind, so many seers of salt or other commodity 
being given in exchange for lac. Naturally the Baipari with his 
general knowledge of market prices always gets the best of the 
bargain. In his dealings with the more sophisticated cultivators, 
the bargaining is usually for cash and is much closer, as there is more 
competition and the seller has more opportunity of learning the 
trend of events in the markets. The Baipari is usually a man of 
small means and is frequently financed by the Arhatiya, who retains 
a lien on the lac and has the right to arrange for its sale. 
The centre of the whole system of up-country distribution is the 
Arhatiya or Ardar , the commission agent or broker. He is usually 
a man of substance, shopkeeper, money-lender, agent and auctioneer, 
and lac-broking is generally only one of his many activities. He is 
purely an agent and never actually owns the lac which passes through 
his godown, but sells it on commission. He takes commission from 
the seller at a percentage of the price obtained, usually about I per 
cent., and from the buyer at so much per maund of lac bought, usually 
about Re. I. His remuneration seems high but he acts as surety 
for the buyer, and if the latter fails to pay up the Arhatiya is respon¬ 
sible to the seller for the value of the lac. When selling to firms of 
well-known standing, he frequently reduces his commission consider¬ 
ably below the rate he would ask from dealers of doubtful financial 
stability. 
The method of sale differs in different districts. Sometimes it 
is open auction, when the purchasers will inspect the lac offered by 
the Arhatiya, make their own estimates of its value and bid accord¬ 
ingly. Another and very common method is the cloth method of 
secret auction. The Arhatiya, the seller and the buyers all sit in a 
ring round the lac to be sold. Each extends his right hand into the 
middle of the ring ; the hands are covered by a cloth and bids are 
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