‘But the wells were not dried up, were they?’

‘No.’

’And the people whose fields they watered had good returns, and high prices for produce?’

’Yes, they had; but their cattle died for want of food, for there was no grass any where to be found.’

’Still they were better off than those who had no wells to draw water from for their fields; and the only way to provide against such evils in future is to have a well for every field.  God has given you the fields, and he has given you the water; and when it does not come from the clouds, you must draw it from your wells.’[16]

’True, sir, very true; but the people are very poor, and have not the means to form the wells they require.’

’And if they borrow the money from you, you charge them with interest?’

’From one to two per cent. a month according to their character and circumstances; but interest is very often merely nominal, and we are in most cases glad to get back the principal alone.’[17]

’And what security have you for the land of your grove in case the landholder should change his mind, or die and leave sons not so well disposed.’

’In the first place, we hold his bonds for a debt of nine thousand rupees which he owes us, and which we have no hopes of his ever paying.  In the next, we have on stamped paper his deed of gift, in which he declares that he has given us the land, and that he and his heirs for ever shall be bound to make good the rents, should Government sell the estate for arrears of revenue.  We wanted him to write this document in the regular form of a deed of sale; but he said that none of his ancestors had ever yet sold their lands, and that he would not be the first to disgrace his family, or record their disgrace on stamped paper—­it should, he was resolved, be a deed of gift.’

‘But, of course, you prevailed upon him to take the price?’

’Yes, we prevailed upon him to take two hundred rupees for the land, and got his receipt for the same; indeed, it is so mentioned in the deed of gift; but still the landlord, who is a near relation of the late chief of Hatras, would persist in having the paper made out as a deed, not of sale, but of gift.  God knows whether, after all, our grove will be secure—­we must run the risk now we have begun upon it.’

Notes: 

1.  This phrase is misleading.  There is no want of trees in Upper India generally; only certain limited areas are ill wooded.  Most of the districts in the plains of the Ganges and Jumna are well wooded.

2.  This is a favourite doctrine of the author, often reiterated.  The absence of a powerful middle class is a characteristic, not of India only, but of all Oriental despotisms, and the subdivision of landed property is only one of the causes of the non-existence of such a class.

3.  This is quite true.  The rural population want two things, first a light assessment, secondly the minimum of official interference, They do not care a straw who the ruler is, and they like best that ruler, be his name or nationality what it may, who worries them least, and takes least money from them.