170 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
rary domain by some public officer, member of 
the royal family, or favourite. The rents of 
the lands which we examined this morning, for 
example, were assigned for the maintenance of 
the young heir-apparent’s establishment of ele¬ 
phants. Some inferior grounds which we no¬ 
ticed, and which belonged to the King, pro¬ 
duced only one crop a-year, and this of pulse, 
at the rate of twenty-five baskets, or about 
three hundred viss the YL These were rent¬ 
ed at two ticals and a half of what is called 
twenty-five per cent, silver, each of which is 
worth about one shilling and tenpence ster¬ 
ling. Better lands were rented at from three 
to six ticals. At present the fences, which are 
only dry bushes of the prickly %i%iphus jujuba , 
and meant only to protect the crops against 
cattle, are all removed, and heaped together for 
future use. The fields were all divided by low 
dykes of a few inches high, which served the 
double purpose of boundaries, and of keeping 
the land duly watered when necessary. In 
some dry lands, which we examined in the 
course of the morning, and which are not fit 
for the production of rice, although for other 
purposes they are reckoned good, the ground 
was preparing for crops of Indian corn. One 
of the farmers of this land stated that he ex- 
