From these tables we may deduce the following state ment, which shews the extent of the balance of trade in favour of this country, in sterling money, estimating the pagoda at 8s. and the rupee at 2s. sterling.
The revenue which the Company derives from this country, arises chiefly from the duties upon commerce and the land-tax ; and the produce of these, we may con clude, is very considerable, as the sea customs of the southern division alone amounted, in 1795, to 23,760 pagodas, 5 fanams, and 14 rms, being about 95041. ster ling. In Tulava, the land-tax, or shista, as it is called by the inhabitants, was formerly demanded in rice, and other articles of consumption, for the troops, at a low rate ; but since the conquest of the country by the Bri tish, it has been paid in money, and the part of Malayala, which is contained in Canara, yielded, in the first year of the Company's government, 6000 pagodas. We arc una ble, however, to give the full amount of this tax ; but we may with safety state it at about one-fourth of the gross produce of the lands.
Canara, before its subjugation by the Sultans of My sore, was possessed by several independent rajas. Many of these, upon its first conquest by Ryder Ali, were per mitted to retain the entire management of the country, on paying an annual tribute, which they raised by a land tax ; and even when this permission was withdrawn, they still enjoyed some valuable privileges. Considera ble allowances were granted to the temples and Brah mans ; and the Christians, of whom great numbers of Kankana descent had settled in Tulava, possessed, in quiet, many valuable estates in land. Upon the acces sion of Tippoo, however, to the throne of his father, these allowances were reduced, and the estates of the Christians confiscated ; their priests were also thrown into dungeons, their churches destroyed, and the laity forcibly converted to Islamism. But the native chiefs were never so entirely subdued by the Mahometan pow ers as the greater part of the Ilindoos, and have always been able successfully to resist the pretensions of their governors to be proprietors of the soil. Upon the fall of Seringapatam, and the death of Tippoo, when this coun try came into the possession of the British, they were even disposed to try how far they could assert their in dependence, and refused for a time to settle with the British collector of the revenue, until some decisive measures were adopted to punish thc most obstinate and troublesome. The country is now governed by the ser
vants of the Company.
The inhabitants of Cam are chiefly llindoos, and are divided into casts as in other parts of India, each of which has its peculiar manners and customs. But such is the state of society in this country, that the chastity of their women cannot be depended upon ; and in order to se cure the succession of property in the family, it is a common law in Tidava, that a man's own children can not be his heirs. Ile may give them inoliel during his life-time, but all that he dies possessed of goes to his sisters and to their children. Polygamy is admitted, and is generally practised. A man, however, may turn away any of his wives whenever he pleases, though a woman cannot leave her husband's house without his consent. She then retires to her brother's, and may marry again. In some cases, if a man's sister be living in his house, she assumes the active management of it, and his wives have no authority. Their language is rather peculiar, and is called Canarese. It differs considerably from the Tamul, or what is called the Malabar language by the Europeans at Madras, though they are evidently branches of one dialect. Their written characters arc nearly the same, but in the Canarese there is a great admixture of words from different languages.
In the southern division of Callan, there are 79,856 houses, of which 2545 are inhabited by Christians, 5223 by Mahometans, and the rest by Ilindoos and Pagans. The total population of this district is 396,672, of whom 206,633 are males, 190,039 females, and 7924 slaves. The houses in the northern division amount to 41,380, of which the Christians possess 476, the Mahometans '2300, and the Hindoos and Pagans the remainder. The number of slaves is about 1544. The principal towns in Carrara are Mangalore and Carwar. Sec Buch:than's .Tourney from J Tadras through Mysore, Canara, and Mala bar, VOL iii.; Dellon Voyage aux Indes Orientates, p. 195, St.c. ; and Bartolomeo's Voyage to the East Indies, p. 103. (p)