In the year 1829, while I held the civil charge of the district of Jubbulpore, in this valley of the Nerbudda, I caused an estimate to be made of the public works of utility and ornament it contained.  The population of the district at that time amounted to 500,000 souls, distributed among 4,053 occupied towns, villages, and hamlets.  There were 1,000 villages more which had formerly been occupied, but were then deserted.  There were 2,288 tanks, 209 ‘baolis’, or large wells with flights of steps extending from the top down to the water when in its lowest stage; 1,560 wells lined with brick and stone, cemented with lime, but without stairs; 860 Hindoo temples, and 22 Muhammadan mosques.  The estimated cost of these works in grain at the present price, had the labour been paid in kind at the ordinary rate, was R86,66,043 (866,604 pounds sterling).[7]

The labourer was estimated to be paid at the rate of about two-thirds the quantity of corn he would get in England if paid in kind, and corn sells here at about one-third the price it fetches in average seasons in England.  In Europe, therefore, these works, supposing the labour equally efficient, would have cost at least four times the sum here estimated; and such works formed by private individuals for the public good, without any view whatever to return in profits, indicate a very high degree of public spirit.

The whole annual rent of the lands of this district amounts to R650,000 (65,000 pounds sterling), that is, 500,000 demandable by the Government, and 150,000 by those who hold the lands at lease immediately under Government, over and above what may be considered as the profits of their stock as farmers.  These works must, therefore, have cost about thirteen times the amount of the annual rent of the whole of the lands of the district, or the whole annual rent for above thirteen years.[8]

But I have not included the groves of mango and tamarind, and other fine trees with which the district abounds.  Two-thirds of the towns and villages are imbedded in fine groves of these trees, mixed with the banyan (Ficus Indica) and the pipal (Ficus religiosa).  I am sorry they were not numbered; but I should estimate them at three thousand, and the outlay upon a mango grove is, on an average, about four hundred rupees.

The groves of fruit-trees planted by individuals for the use of the public, without any view to a return in profit, would in this district, according to this estimate, have cost twelve lakhs [12,00,000] more, or about twice the amount of the annual rent of the whole of the lands.  It should be remarked that the whole of these works had been formed under former governments.  Ours was established in the year 1817.[9]