DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2374#0116
108
A.JOURNEY FROM MADRAS THROUGH
Farmers and
farms.
CHAPTER I have reason to think that this account of the cultivation of dry
VIII. grains is not materially erroneous.
Sept 11—13. The labouring servants of the farmers are here called Jitagara,
labourers 01" hired men. They eat once a day in their master's house : a good
employed in wor]ier o-ets also 40 Fahanis, or about 1/. 6s. lOd. a year; and an
agriculture. ° t j
indifferent man gets only SO Fanams, or about 1/. A woman gets
yearly 5 Fanams worth of cloth, and 4 Fanams in money, and eats
twice a day at her master's expense. Their diet consists of Ragy-
flour boiled into a kind of porridge. The seasoning consists of a few
leaves bruised with capsicum and salt, and boiled in a little water.
It is only the rich that use oil or Ghee (boiled butter) in their diet.
Milk is in such plenty,that the Jitagara may have as much Tyre,
or sour curds, as they please.
Owing to the devastations of war, the people near Priya-pattana
are at present so poor, that they are cutting off the unripe ears of
corn, and parching them to satisfy the cravings of appetite. Be-
fore the invasion of the Bombay army under General Abercromby,
the poorest farmers had two ploughs; some rich men had fifteen;
and men who had from eight to ten were reckoned in moderate cir-
cumstances. A man who had two ploughs would keep 40 oxen
young and old, 50 cows, two or three male buffaloes, four females,,
and 100 sheep or goats. A rich man would have 200 cows, and
other cattle in proportion. One plough can cultivate 10 Colagas of
rice-land, and 5 Colagas of Ragy-field.; altogether a little less than
four acres. This is too small an allowance ; and the farmers seem
to under-rate the extent of a plough of land, as much as they ex-
aggerate their former affluence. They pretend, that the officers
of government are forcing them, to cultivate more than their stock
could do properly, by which means their crops are rendered poor.
The officers deny the charge, and say, that since Tippoo's death
this has not been practised. In Indian governments, however, it is
a common usage.
A.JOURNEY FROM MADRAS THROUGH
Farmers and
farms.
CHAPTER I have reason to think that this account of the cultivation of dry
VIII. grains is not materially erroneous.
Sept 11—13. The labouring servants of the farmers are here called Jitagara,
labourers 01" hired men. They eat once a day in their master's house : a good
employed in wor]ier o-ets also 40 Fahanis, or about 1/. 6s. lOd. a year; and an
agriculture. ° t j
indifferent man gets only SO Fanams, or about 1/. A woman gets
yearly 5 Fanams worth of cloth, and 4 Fanams in money, and eats
twice a day at her master's expense. Their diet consists of Ragy-
flour boiled into a kind of porridge. The seasoning consists of a few
leaves bruised with capsicum and salt, and boiled in a little water.
It is only the rich that use oil or Ghee (boiled butter) in their diet.
Milk is in such plenty,that the Jitagara may have as much Tyre,
or sour curds, as they please.
Owing to the devastations of war, the people near Priya-pattana
are at present so poor, that they are cutting off the unripe ears of
corn, and parching them to satisfy the cravings of appetite. Be-
fore the invasion of the Bombay army under General Abercromby,
the poorest farmers had two ploughs; some rich men had fifteen;
and men who had from eight to ten were reckoned in moderate cir-
cumstances. A man who had two ploughs would keep 40 oxen
young and old, 50 cows, two or three male buffaloes, four females,,
and 100 sheep or goats. A rich man would have 200 cows, and
other cattle in proportion. One plough can cultivate 10 Colagas of
rice-land, and 5 Colagas of Ragy-field.; altogether a little less than
four acres. This is too small an allowance ; and the farmers seem
to under-rate the extent of a plough of land, as much as they ex-
aggerate their former affluence. They pretend, that the officers
of government are forcing them, to cultivate more than their stock
could do properly, by which means their crops are rendered poor.
The officers deny the charge, and say, that since Tippoo's death
this has not been practised. In Indian governments, however, it is
a common usage.