ghee, and cheese, are the produce of the cows and female buffaloes. lit various parts of Guzetat, Cutch, and the Decaln there is a particular tribe, whose chief employ ment is selling milk and day-labouring. In the provinces of Hindustan Proper, it is calculated that the produce of cacti cow, annually, is nearly 1500 niaunds of milk ; and that one mama' will produce 2i seer of ghee or clarified butter. Ghee is made of butter which is kept for two or three days ; in this time it becomes rancid, after which it is melted in an earthen pot, and boiled till all the water has evaporated ; it is then poured into pots, or leathern pus, and kept for use. Some cheese is made in Guze rat, and other provinces in Hindostan Proper, but it is of very inferior quality. The wool of the sheep is of little value, except in those districts where the climate requires :,lothing warmer than that which cotton will supply ; in those districts the sheep are generally shorn twice a year, once in the cold, and once in the rainy season ; it is calcu lated that 12 sheep will furnish wool sufficient to make a blanket six cubits long and three wide.
In discussing the nature of the landed tenure in India, we incidentally noticed some particulars relative to the condition and circumstances of the Ryot or husbandman ; it will be proper, however, before we close this chapter, to attend to this subject more directly, and rather more fully.
In Hindostan Proper, the Ryots hold their lands either directly from the zemindars, or from the talookdans ; the latter ate of two sects ; some of them pay the rent, and account for the collections they make from the Ryots to the zemindars ; others to government : the hailer are call ed independent talookdans, and are in fact on p aty ze mindars. The poorest Ryots are, by the custom of the country, considered as a sort of proprietors, entitled to a perpetual lease ; they are attached in the strongest man ner to the soil, and never migrate but in cases of absolute necessity. Waste and jungle land, if low and fit for rice, can be brought into cultivation in one season, and the poorest of can undertake it ; he can with ease cultivate 16 begars of rice, and supposing the half to go for rent, the remainder will afford food for four or five persons. Such was the state of the poorer Ryots before the British acquired a permanent and extensive footing in Hindostan Proper, under such zemindars as were just and equitable landlords, and regulated their conduct toward their tenants by the customs of the country ; but the condition of those rented their land under the generality of zemindars was quite the reverse : agreements, indeed, did pass be tween the landlords and their tenants at the beginning of the year ; but they were commonly broken by the ze mindar.
The condition and circumstances of those Ryots,'Cvho occupy more land than they can cultivate by themselves and families, and who, of course, are obliged to hire ser vants, do not appear so favourable. From the produce of their crops they are obliged to give, not only the necessary servants of the farm, high grain wages, as well as money, but also the poet, Brahmin, blacksmith, Sze. so that, after deducting from the produce of his land that part of it which they require, and that part which is paid to the zemindar for rent, the share of the Ryot himself will be but small. It should be observed, however, that his whole stock is small ; in the district about Allahabad, it does not amount to eight rupees, exclusive of the value of his cat• tle. The cultivation of the province of Bengal, according
to Mr. Grant, does not require a greater agricultural stock than a crore and a half of rupees.
The preceding observations apply to the cultivators in Hindostan Proper : those in the south of India, especially in those provinces which were least affected by the Ma homedan conquest, are in a better condition. The Ryots here hold directly under the government, or rather pay rent as revenue to government. Districts are divided into villages, and each village is under the management of a Potail, or head farmer, in what are called the sixteenth villages, from the land and rent being divided into six teenth shares. All the Ryots assemble to fix their re spective rents, a little before the season when cultivation commences: the amount of the agricultural stock pos sessed by each individual, the quantity of land, its proba ble produce, are ascertained, and the rent is then fixed ; and such a portion of land assigned to each person as he has the means of properly cultivating. In other parts the custom is different, and the rent is fixed by the agents of government ; these set out on their circuit in September or October, when the early crops begin to be reaped, and the late ones to be sown : if the cultivation is the same as last year, and no failure occur among the Ryots, there is no alteration in the soil : if waste laud has been brought t roug in, the full rent is not exacted for three or four years, ac cording to its previous state : if it appears that some of the Ryots, from the failure of their crops, cannot pay their rent, the loss, or a part of it, is sometimes assessed upon the others; but this is seldom done. When the land is in cultivation, and its rent has been ascertained, the collector gives every ryot a puttah, with his signature, in which every field he holds, and its rent for the year, are In most villages the greatest part of the ryots hold the same fields several years. During the intervals of the rents of the collectors, the agricultural concerns of the village are regulated and overlooked by a complete esta blishment of hereditary revenue servants. A district pay ing a rent or revenue of 50,000 pagodas usually contains about 100 villages, some of which pay not more than 100, and others as much as 5000 pagodas, annual rent. The general direction of the cultivation, and the collecting of the rent, is the duty of the Potail, or head farmer ; the accounts are kept by the Curnum. As soon as the season for ploughing begins, the Potail ascertains what land each Ryot can cultivate; and if any are desirous to relinquish part of their farms, he gives it to another. In the early part of the season, the Tehsildar goes round the district ; his duty is to regulate cultivation in those villages which are mismanaged, through the neglect or incapacity of the Potail, and to make advances to the poorer Ryots for the purchase of seed, ploughs, or cattle : he goes round again when the crops are ripening, to see their condition, and to ascertain whether the quantity of land actually cultivated is more or less than that which the Ryots had engaged to take. None of these, however, have power to fix the rent; this is done exclusively by the collector ; but the Potail assures the Ryots that the rents will remain the same, unless some alteration should appear to be indis pensably necessary ; they are satisfied with this assurance, receive betel from him as a confirmation of it, and yoke their ploughs.