Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/61

 PUBLIC REVENUE. 49 the expences of the supreme government. It may here be noticed, that a tenth, or tithe, seems to be the nnmerical proportion determined upon by all the nations of the east, as the sovereign's share of the produce of the land, as soon as his claim is regularly established. It would seem to mean nothing more than the smallest share, being the fraction of the denary scale of numeration, and, except in its convenience for computation, to be entirely arbitrary, and unconnected with any ra- tional estimate of the capacity of the soil. The claim of the sovereigns of Bali to a share of the produce of the land is very peculiarly modified. No numerical proportion is stated, and every thing hinges upon what is most important and indispen- sable to the peculiar husbandry of the country, the water of irrio-ation. The land itself is lost sight of, and we do not hear of the sovereign's claim to the landj but to the xvater. This singularity arises from the very peculiar circumstances of the island, where all the agriculture that is either valuable or important depends solely on artificial irrigation. In other parts of the Archipelago, indeed, we ne- ver hear of any land but cultivated land, and sel- dom of any but wet rice lands, so that the term for rice lands ("SawahJ means, in popular language, any landed property whatever. In Bali we see that they go still further, the soil being lost sight of altogether. The dues of the sovereign are not VOL. III. D