MUTTRA. 49 The mass of the population are fairly well off. The last settlement of the land revenue pressed lightly upon the District. No very severe famine has occurred lately; the harvests have yielded well; and the peasants are therefore in better circumstances than those of neighbouring Districts. The tenures of land do not readily fall under the standard types of the North-Western Provinces, being held under imperfect species of camíndári and bhíváchira. The greater number of estates are split up into infinitesimal fractions among the whole village conmunity; and the small farmers, who till their own scanty plots, form a very large class, while the number of non-proprietary cultivators is proportionately small. Most of the latter have no hereditary rights, but hold as tenants-at-will. Of the total male adult agricultural population (143,500) of Muttra District, 30,544 are returned as landholders, 1199 as estate servants, 85,649 as cultivators, and 26,108 as agricultural labourers. Average area cultivated by each adult male agriculturist, 5'12 acres. The total agricultural population, however, dependent upon the soil for a livelihood numbers 347,787, or 55.8 per cent. of the District population. Of the total area of 1452°7 square miles, 1323 square miles a assessed for Government revenue. Total Government assessment, including rates and cesses, £188,980, or an average of 5s. 6!d. per cultivated acre. Total rental paid by cultivators, including rates and cesses, £261,728, or an average of 7s. I d. per cultivated acre. Wages rule as follows :-Coolies and unskilled labourers, 2 d. to 3d. per diem ; field hands, 2 d. to 3d. ; bricklayers and carpenters, 6d. to 25. Women obtain about one-fifth less than men, and children from one-third to two-thirds. The prices of food-grains in January 1884 were as follows:- Wheat, 177 sers per rupee, or 6s. 4d. per cwt. ; best rice, 7 sers per rupee, or 16s. per cwt. ; joár and gram, 23 sers per rupee, or 4s. rod. per cwt. ; bájra, 22 sers per rupee, or 5s. Id. per cwt.; and barley, 25 sers per rupee, or 4s. 6d. per cwt. Natural Calamities.-Muttra has often suffered severely from drought and famine. In 1813, the parganá of Sahár was a centre of great distress. Many persons perished of hunger, or sold their wives and children for a few rupees or a single meal. In 1825-26, all the Districts of the North-Western Provinces were visited by a terrible drought, which specially afflicted Mahában and Jalesar (now in Agra District). In 1837–38, the famine pressed severely upon the Doáb portion of Muttra, and also on the south-western hill tract. In 1860-61, only half the uisual quantity of land was irrigated, and only the irrigated area produced a harvest. Many of the poorer cultivators left the District towards the close of 1860, and only one - fourth returned. The deaths from starvation averaged 497 a month in the first quarter, and 85 in the second quarter, of 1861; but in July and August they fell to 5. VOL. X. D
