the Sahibs had left the place, the same names introduced into the doggrel lay which the Mahratta housewife chants to lighten her daily task of grinding grain, they would confess that there is such a thing as native gratitude; and that Goldsmid and Wingate had gained the highest honors which a simple and uneducated race could pay to their benefactors."

But, alas! Mr. Goldsmid did not live long enough to see the final accomplishment of his great scheme; and he might but view, through the long vista of the future, the inestimable benefits to be conferred on the people at large by a system bearing, at every point, the impress of his keen and comprehensive intellect. The object and principles of this system may shortly be described. Government is considered as universal landlord, and no middlemen are permitted between it and the actual cultivators. The lands of each village are divided into separate fields of various sizes, depending on the nature of the soil; including about as much land as can be cultivated by the assistance of one pair of bullocks, and averaging, we imagine, about 15 acres. The boundaries of these fields are marked permanently, by the erection, at every considerable bend, of earthen mounds of an elongated triangular form, six cubits in length, three in breadth, and two in height. The fields are measured by well-instructed native measurers, with the cross-staff and chain. A few main lines are fixed by the theodolite, and a and a most accurate map of the lands of the village, exhibiting each field distinctly, is obtained. Again, field by field, the land is examined and classified. After much careful consideration, rates per acre for the various classes of soil are proposed for the approval of Government. The yearly rent payable by each field is then calculated, and entered in a register, together with the names of present cultivators. The rates are fixed for 30 years; and so long as a cultivator pays his rent he may do what he likes with his fields, and he derives the benefit of any improvements he may make on the land for the term of 30 years, during which time the amount of rent cannot be raised; on the other hand, he may at any time throw up one or more of his fields, but he cannot subsequently reclaim them, should they have been taken up by any one else. These are the main and broad features of the system, which we now proceed to describe more minutely.

The operations are threefold: first, the Survey; secondly, the Classification; and thirdly, the Assessment;-each equally important, and the integrity of the whole depending, of course, on the perfect integrity of all three. First, the Survey: The operations of each Collectorate are confided to a Superintendent, and usually about six Assistant Superintendents, four of whom are over the

establishments for measuring, and two for classing. Each establishment consists of about 20 well-instructed native surveyors; their pay averages from 15 to 25 rupees per month. Each of them is accompanied by a Jemadar, or boundary-mark peon, whose sole duty is to superintend the erection of the boundary-marks. About the commencement or middle of November, the several Assistant Superintendents, accompanied by their establishments, proceed to their respective districts for the season. The Mamlutdar (the Bengal Tehsildar) is consulted, and a list of villages is made out in which operations may be most conveniently commenced, and a native measurer is appointed to each. Having seen that all his implements, his mapping-paper, blank books, cross-staff, chain, flags, &c. &c. are in working order and correct, he starts for his village, and having arrived at the village chowrie, he forthwith assembles the patels, koolkurnee, and other inhabitants, to whom he explains the object of his visit, and reads to them a proclamation setting forth the objects of the survey-" the Premash"-and also cautioning them from offering him either obstructions or bribes; we suspect the latter part of the proclamation is not always read in the most audible voice. The document is then signed by all present, and forwarded to the office of the Assistant Superintendent; another copy of it is posted on the chowrie walls; and on the following morning the measurer is ready to commence his labours. He must he accompanied to the field by the patel, the koolkurnee, and as many of the more respectable inhabitants as possible. The village carpenter carries his cross-staff, the village goldsmith holds his inkstand, the mahars drag the chain, the cultivators generally take the flags; on one side stands the patel, superintending the whole operation, and wondering what it all means; and on the other the koolkurnee, with his village book-his "jungle khurdeh"-open, readily supplies all the information required by the measurer. generally commences with the land immediately in front of the north gate of the village, continues his operations to the northern boundary, and then works on continuously from left to right like the hands of a watch, until all the land is measured. He usually accomplishes forty acres daily, which he is expected to plot out on the map, on returning to the chowrie after the completion of his morning's work. The boundaries of the fields are fixed by the measurer more or less arbitrarily in all lands which are neither meerassee nor alienated; he, however, follows as closely as possible any old boundaries that may exist. The boundary-marks are erected by paid laborers, at the rate of eight for the rupee; large numbers of wuddars and cummattics from the Carnatic are employed on the

He

work, and being professional diggers, they work very rapidly, and many of them earn as much as eight annas per day; but generally they are incorrigible thieves; their wives and donkeys prowl about constantly at night, plundering the crops of jowari and toor; when remonstrated with, they make a thousand vehement promises of amendment, only to be broken as soon as the shades of evening set in. The measurer forwards a daily report of his proceedings, stating the amount and nature of his work, to the office of the Assistant Superintendent. The records prepared by the measurer are four in number: the rough field-book, the fair survey-book, the boundarymark book, and the map of the village; of these, the fair surveybook, and the map, are by far the most important. On the left page of the survey-book are entered the names of the parties present at the time of measurement, the number of the field, its description from the koolkurnee's jungle-khurdehs, the nature of its soil, its peculiar tenure, the name of the present cultivator, and finally the field itself accurately laid down by scale; the page on the right side of the book contains the particulars of the measurement as regards lengths of base lines and perpendiculars, a statement of any unculturable land contained within its limits, and lastly the contents of the field stated in acres and guntas. The map corresponds, of course, exactly with the field book, only showing all the fields of the village at a glance. To insure accuracy, a portion of the work, usually from 5 to 10 per cent., is redone by the Assistant Superintendent, and the result is almost invariably satisfactory; the average amount of error rarely exceeds one per cent. During the ensuing rains, when field operations are necessarily suspended, the field-book and map are subjected to a careful examination; all errors are rectified, and a fair copy of the map is made on cloth-mounted paper. During the course of the measurements, all boundary disputes that present themselves should be settled by the Assistant Superintendent himself, if he finds that a Punchayet under the direction of the Mamlutdar, as "Sur-punch,' is unable to do it satisfactorily. Hundreds of these disputes have been disposed of in the Dekhan, and their settlement is a blessing to the people and a gain to Government. They frequently are very extensive and of long standing; we have ourselves seen one in which the papers produced were at least three hundred years old. As long as a dispute exists, the land must lie fallow; the mere fact of being able to prove cultivation is always considered as nine-tenths of the required proof to establish possession. The mode of procedure is, first, carefully to survey and map the disputed portion; and to be enabled to determine the exact limits of the dispute, it is necessary to start from some point regarding which no dispute exists, and then to follow and lay down a line in accordance with the show

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