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BA/^A BANK/.

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owned by large proprietors {td/ukddrs), Muhammadans, though forming only i6i per cent, of the population, owned in 1874, 938 out of 2093 villages. Of the 1155 villages owned by Hindus, 826 were held by Kshattri}’as, chiefly of the Raikwar and Surajbans clans; 97 by Kayasths, 86 by Brahmans, and 35 by Kurmis. The cultivators are for the most part tenants-at-will, rack-rented and Three-fifths of the District

is

the rest by village coparceners.

any

debt-ridden, without

custom

the

rights in

protected from enhancement and the settlement of rents,

in

The

status of cottiers.

Competition, displacing

gradually reducing

is

number of

total

and very inadequately

soil,

eviction.

adult

male

them

to the

agriculturists

was returned

in 1881, excluding labourers,

The

average of 2'79 acres each.

total

at 197,642, cultivating an population, however, wholly

numbered 744,696, or 72'53 per cent, of Of the total District area of 1768 square miles, 1748 are assessed for Government revenue, of which 1102 Total amount square miles are actually cultivated, and 265 cultivable. of Government assessment, including local rates and cesses levied on land, ^166,826, or 4s. 8Jd. per cultivated acre; total rental dependent on the

soil,

the District population.

paid by

cultivators,


 * ^322,864,

Wages, it is labourer gets from 4s. to vated acre.

5s.

a

a

or

fraction

have not

stated,

month

in

under

9s.

A

risen.

money;

per

culti-

skilled

yearly

field

presents

of grain and a blanket raise his total earnings to from ^^2, 14s. to


 * £ t„

6s.

a year, or from i^d.

worth of

beans.

cavators

field

3d.

a day

is.

to is. 3d.

a week.

A

day’s

and three ounces of roasted maize;

water-lift earns

On 4^d.



road-work, is

the

work

at the

at wells, 3d.

hodmen

daily

get 2-^d., and exwage of blacksmiths and

carpenters.

Natural Calamities

when

.

— In

the last

great

famine, that

of 1837-38,

severe drought followed a succession of poor harvests, the price

is. lod. a cwt. There has been of gram rose to Rs. 8 a vtaund, or no such dearth since. In 1865 and 1868, droughts brought up the price of flour to Rs. 5 a maund, or 13s. 8d. a cwt., for some months, and in 1873 to Rs. 3. 10. o, or 9s. lo^d. a cwt. In 1871 and 1872, heavy floods poured down the Kalyani, and, by stopping all field-work,

caused even sharper distress to the labouring classes than drought, during which there is often a brisk demand for labour at wells. In the severe drought of 1877-78, the price of wheat rose to 9 sers per rupee, The approach of or I 2 S. 5d. per cwt. ; cheaper grains in proportion. famine will be threatened whenever the price of millets or barley rises, With for more than a month, to Rs. 2. 3. o a maimd, or 6s. per cwt. two navigable rivers, bridged roads between the chief towns, and road and railway communication with Cawnpur, Lucknow, Faizabad, and Bahramghat, the District is in no danger of isolation.