Page:The Marquess Cornwallis and the Consolidation of British Rule.djvu/134

128 Certain villages and certain tracts of country were however found to be in the possession of particular castes. In one place the inhabitants were exclusively Muhammadan. Other villages and distinct Mahallas, or parts of villages, were tenanted wholly by fishermen, by weavers, or by the purely agricultural castes of Hindus — the Pōd, the Kaibart, the Kopali, and the Teor. But anything like an obligation to collect rents in common, apportion liabilities, and divide the surplus, it would not have been easy to find in Lower Bengal. There were numerous instances in which Bengalí Ryots combined to resist extortion, or to prevent a purchaser at auction or by private sale, or a lessor, from enforcing his legal rights. There were also the usual village functionaries and artisans necessary for agricultural occupations, e.g. the watchman, the carpenter, and the blacksmith. But of the co-parcenary tenure and the Bháyachára village occupied by the proprietary brotherhood, in which the revenue was assessed by a bach or rate, there was no trace at the acquisition of the Diwání in 1765, in Bengal Proper.

In several other matters, in spite of these variations in the landed tenures, the precedents of 1793 were closely followed. The exaction of tolls and taxes and duties was forbidden. Inland customs were to be levied at four towns only — Benares, Gházípur, Juanpúr, and Mirzápur. The duties of the English Collector were specifically defined. He was to collect the revenue, whether due 'from Tálukdárs, Zamíndárs,