Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057345).pdf/197

 KHE 183 also of arhar, mothi, urd, masúr, boiled as pottage, and of rice. There is a certain rotation ; one day a man will eat juár cakes, a second day rice, a third day kodo cakes, a fourth day urd or mothi pottage; he will try to vary his diet as much as possible. The quantities he eats will vary with the food. A strong labouring man will eat it ser of kodo or sánwán, but 1ų ser juár, bájra, or urd, and only 1 ser of gram; a slight built man will consume one quarter less. The following is the stated daily consumption of a family consisting of five children, father, mother, and grandmother, children aged 3 to 15. The father ate 14 ser of bájra, wife and mother 2 sers, the five children 21 = 57. They also used one quarter kachcha ser per day of salt, but they would have preferred more if they could have afforded it. This is 1}rd chhaták per day per head, but the more liberal allowance in their case was 14 kachcha ser in four days, 114 kachcha sers or 51 pakka sers in the year. The bazar rate was 7 sers, so this head of a family (a chaukidar) had to pay Rs. 7-5-0 per annum for salt. His pay was nominally five bighas, or less than three acres of land. But let us be a little more exact. This chaukidar did not boast the possession of any coin of the realm, but he had five local sers of juár which he was going to exchange for itser of salt to last him four days ; so he paid it kachba ser of grain per day in exchange for salt, which will be in the year 205 pakka sers. At the time urd was selling at 23 sers for the rupee, so he was paying at the rate of Rs. 9 per annum for salt. This calculation confirms the other; as of course the purchaser by barter would have to give a double profit to the shop- keeper, and would thus purchase dearer. It is obvious that when juár gets dearer be will pay a smaller quantity, but the same money value for his quantum of salt. Further, this head of a family has to procure five and half sers for food per day, which will be 2,007 sers per annum, and for salt 205, or, allowing for the greater purchasing power of gram further on in the year, 150 sers. He will expand therefore 2,157 sers of coarsa grain in the year. Now the average price of such grain has been 33 sers per rupee during the last ten years. It is now 23 sers, so his average in- come must have been equivalent to Rs. 65, and must now be Rs. 94 per What were his earnings? They must have been under Rs. 30 for himself, and perhaps his eldest one might earn Rs. 10 more. He him- self declared that bis rent-free land and the bisár or field gleanings which he got as village watchman produced him 30 maunds kachcha, or 540 sers that year, worth about Rs. 30, as most of it would be wheat or gram ; but it was only a twelve-anna crop, and other years his share of the grain and his grain rents might be worth Rs. 40. His sons would be required to aid in looking after the crops, and the two calculations of his income about agree. It must be remembered that the 720 sers of mix- ed grain which he would get in an average year represent about 950 sers of the coarser grain which he consumes. At any rate it is impossible to see how this chaukidar, a Pási, could supply more than balf his actual consumption from honest and recognized sources, while it is certain that if this family required Rs. 7 worth of salt, very few families of the labouring classes can get as much as they require in Oudh. This family is now spending upon salt barter five kachcha sers of grain 25 annum,