BUCHANAN** JOURNEY THROUGH

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monly intruded with the authority of punilhingall tranfgreffions againft the rules of thecaft. His power is not arbitrary; as he is always affifted by a council of the mod ref-pe&able members of his tribe. The puniffiments that he can inflid are fines and flripes,and above all, excommunication, or lofs of caft: which to a Hindu is the moft terribleof all puniffiments. Thefe hereditary chiefs, alfo, affifted by their council, fre-quently decide civil caufes, or difputes among their tribe ; and when the bufinefs is toointricate or difficult, it is generally referred to the hereditary chief of the rulingtribe of the fide or divifion to which the parties belong. In this cafe, he affemblesthe moft refpe&able men of the divifion, and fettles the difpute ; and the advice ofthefe perfons is commonly fufficient to make both parties acquiefce in the decifion;for every one would Ihun a man who could be fo unreafonable as to refufecompliance. Thefe courts have no legal jurifdi&ion; but their influence is great,and many of the ableft amildars fupport their decifions by the authority ofgovernment.

The dominions of the Raja of Myfore are now divided into three great diftrifts,or fubayenas, called the Patana, Nagara,and Chatrakal fubayenas or rayadas; from thethree places where the chief offices or ciitcheries are fituated. The Patana diftrict isby far the largeft, and is under the immediate infpe&ion of the Dewan, Purnea, andof his deputy, Bucherow. The cutchery is in Seringapatam ; and dependent on itare ninety-one talucs, or fub-divifions, of which fix formerly belonged to Nagara.This prefent diftridt is a much greater extent of territory than ever before was fubjedtto the Myfore family; for although they had conquered Coimbetore, and thoughfome diftridts formerly belonging to them, and bordering on the Bara Mahal, havebeen ceded to the Company, yet, befide thefe fix talucs taken from Nagara, theynever poffeffed Sira, Bangaluru , nor Colar, which were conquered from Muffulmanfamilies by Hyder. In addition to this, they have acquired the Chatracal fubayena,containing thirteen talucs; and the Nagara, containing nineteen. Each of thefediftri&s is under the infpediion of a fubadar. Each taluc is managed by an amildar,who is an officer of juftice, police, and revenue ; but his authority is very limited ;the power of fevere punilhment, and of reviling all civil caufes, being referved to theDewan. The amildars have under them a fufficient number of ffieriftadars, oraccomptants, who in the Karnataca language are called parputties; and the villagesunder them are managed by gaudas, and ffianabogas, called by the Muffuimanspotails, and curnums. Thefe two offices are properly hereditary. The gauda isthe reprefentative of the amildar, and the ihanaboga is the village accomptant.The amildars, parputties, and lhanabogas, are almoft univerfally Brahmans. Thegaudas are all Sudras.

Near Seringapatam the farms in general extend to two or three ploughs of land.One plough is a poor ftock ; the poffeffor of four or five is a great farmer ; and fixor feven are reckoned prodigious wealth : the total want of a land meafure, and thefcattered difpofition of the plots of which each farm confifts, render it very difficultto afcertain the extent of a plough of land ; efpecially as a difference arifes from theproportion of watered land and dry field which it contains. We may readily affirm,however, that the extent of a plough of land is very inconfiderable ; for the ploughingsgiven to the fame field are very numerous, although difperfed over a confiderableportion of the year; and I was affured, that a plough wrought by bullocks did notlabour more, daily, than one feventh of an acre.

This account of the tenures and extent of farms not being fatisfa<ftory, on myreturn to Seringapatam I affembled the amildar of the Pattana Afhta gram, with themoft intelligent of his ffieriftadars, and feveral refpe&able gaudas, to conduit them

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