146 
JOUliNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
first sown in beds, and afterwards transplant¬ 
ed ; which is contrary to the usual practice of 
the lower country, where it is sown broad-cast, 
and not afterwards removed. One of the cul¬ 
tivators informed us that the field he was till¬ 
ing was the property of his father, and had 
been inherited by him from his ancestors. It 
was at present, he said, mortgaged along with 
the contiguous field, altogether estimated at 
one acre, for the sum of sixty ticals ; the mort¬ 
gagee receiving no interest, but being put in 
possession of the land, and deriving all profits 
from it from the date of the loan,—the ground 
to be forfeited in three years if the debt were 
not liquidated. He also said that no portion of 
the produce was paid to the King, nor to the 
person who held the domain as a temporary 
estate. In lieu of a land-tax, he added, that 
the latter personage assessed each family in the 
village at an arbitrary rate, which, for the same 
family, varied from fifty to one hundred ticals 
yearly, besides corvees. Another husband¬ 
man informed us that the ground he was en¬ 
gaged in cultivating was the property of ano¬ 
ther ; that he rented it, and paid the pro¬ 
prietor half the produce, himself supplying seed, 
cattle, and implements of husbandry. When 
1 came on board, the Sayedaugyi told me 
