6io

buchanan’s journey through

than eleven pecks) of grain ; of which one half mull be ragy, and the remainder offuch kind as it may be mod agreeable to the farmer to fpare.

At different convenient places in every taluc there are weekly markets, which ingood parts of the country may be about two or three miles from each other. Tothefe the farmers carry their produce, and fell it, partly to confumers by retail, andpartly by wholefale to traders. In the early part of the day they endeavour to felltheir goods by retail, and do not deal with the traders unlefs they be diftrefled formoney. It is not cuftomary for traders to advance money on the crops, and toreceive the produce when they ripen. At all thefe markets bufinefs is carried onby fale; no barter is cuftomary, except among a few poor people, who exchangegrain for the produce of the kitchen garden.

On confidering the ftate of agriculture near Seringapatam , many capital defeatswill be perceived. A meliorating fuccefiion of crops is utterly unknown ; fcarcelyany attention is paid to the improvement of the breed of labouring cattle, and ftilllefs to providing them with fufficient nourifhment. The religion of the natives, indeed,is a powerful obftacle in the way of agriculture. The higher ranks of fociety beingexcluded from animal food, no attention will, of courfe, be paid to fattening cattle;and without that, what w'ould our agriculture in England be worth ? We could haveno green crops to reftore our lands to fertility, and but a fcanty manure to invigorateour crops of grain. I am afraid, however, that the reader, in perufing the foregoingaccounts, will have formed an opinion of the native agriculture ftill more favourablethan it deferves. I have been obliged to ufe the Englifh words ploughings, weedings,and hoeings, to exprefs operations fomewhat fnnilar, that are performed by thenatives; and the frequent repetitions of thefe,, mentioned in the accounts takenfrom the cultivators, might induce the reader to imagine that the groundwas well wrought, and- kept remarkably clean. Quite the reverfe, however,is the truth. Owing to the extreme imperfeftion of their implements, and want offtrength in their cattle, a field after fix or eight ploughings, has numerous fmallbufhes remaining as upright in it as before the labour commenced ; while the ploughhas not penetrated above three inches deep, and has turned over no part ol the foil.The view of the plough and other implements in the annexed plates, will fufficientlyaccount for this circumftance. The plough, it muft be obferved, has neithercoulter nor mould-board, to divide, and to turn over the foil; and the handle givesthe ploughman very little power to command its direction. The other inftrumentsare equally imperfeCf, and are more rudely formed than it was poflible for mydraughtfman to reprefent.

The manufactures of Seringapatam and its vicinity were never confiderable. Theywere chiefly military ftores and camp equipage; and of courie have been greatlyreduced by the arfenal having become a mere dependency on that of Madras.Weavers are now affemblecl in confiderable nunibers in Snahar Ganjam, and in afhort time will probably become numerous. The trade of the place was almoftentirely confined to the importation of provifions, clothing, and luxuries for the courtand army ; and the returns were almoft wholly made in cafh.

The natives here are either not well acquainted with the quarries of their country,or elfe pretend great ignorance concerning them. Although the country aboundsin a variety of ornamental ftones, I obferve only two about Seringapatam , thathave received a marble polifh. The one is the black ftone ufed in Hyder’s monu-ment, the quarry for which I {hall hereafter have an opportunity of examining. Theother is a moft beautiful green ft one, of which fome bafes for pillars were found in-