Being asked, Whether the Rajah is not bound to furnish the cultivators of land with seed for their crops, according to the custom of the country? he said, The king of Tanjore, as proprietor of the land, always makes advances of money for seed for the cultivation of the land.—­Being then asked, If money beyond his power of furnishing should be extorted from him, might it not prevent, in the first instance, the means of cultivating the country? he said, It certainly does; he knows it for a fact; and he knows, that, when he left the country, there were several districts which were uncultivated from that cause.—­Being asked, Whether it is not necessary to be at a considerable expense in order to keep up the mounds and watercourses? he said, A very considerable one annually.—­Being asked, What would be the consequence, if money should fail for that? he said, In the first instance, the country would be partially supplied with water, some districts would be overflowed, and others would be parched.—­Being asked, Whether there is not a considerable dam called the Anicut, on the keeping up of which the prosperity of the country greatly depends, and which requires a great expense? he said, Yes, there is:  the whole of the Tanjore country is admirably well supplied with water, nor can he conceive any method could be fallen upon more happily adapted to the cultivation and prosperity of the country; but, as the Anicut is the source of that prosperity, any injury done to that must essentially affect all the other works in the country:  it is a most stupendous piece of masonry, but, from the very great floods, frequently requiring repairs, which if neglected, not only the expense of repairing must be greatly increased, but a general injury done to the whole country.—­Being asked, Whether that dam has been kept in as good preservation since the prevalence of the English government as before? he said, From his own knowledge he cannot tell, but from everything he has read or heard of the former prosperity and opulence of the kings of Tanjore, he should suppose not.—­Being asked, Whether he does not know of several attempts that have been made to prevent the repair, and even to damage the work? he said, The Rajah himself frequently complained of that to him, and he has likewise heard it from others at Tanjore.—­Being asked, Who it was that attempted those acts of violence? he said, He was told it was the inhabitants of the Nabob’s country adjoining to the Anicut.—­Being asked, Whether they were not set on or instigated by the Nabob? he answered, The Rajah said so.—­And being asked, What steps the President and Council took to punish the authors and prevent those violences? he said, To the best of his recollection, the Governor told him he would make inquiries into it, but he does not know that any inquiries were made; that Sir Thomas Rumbold, the Governor, informed him that he had laid his representations with respect to the Anicut before the Nabob, who denied that his people had given any interruption to the repairs of that work.