The proportion of the crop paid as rent varied with the kind of land, or produce, and the labour employed by the cultivator. In the _sáwah_ lands, the share demanded by the landlord rarely exceeded one-half, and might fall as low as one-fourth, according as the quality of the soil was good or bad, or the labour employed in irrigating or otherwise preparing it was greater or less. In _tégal_ lands, the rent paid varied from one-third to one-fifth of the produce; a diminution to be attributed to the uncertainty of the crop, and the necessity of employing more labour to realize an equal produce than on the other species of cultivation. In cases where there was a second crop of less value than the principal rice or maize crop, no additional demand was made upon the additional grain reaped by the farmer.
If such rates had been equitably fixed, after a deliberate estimate of the proportion between the labour of the cultivator and his produce, and if from the best kind of _sáwah_ no more than the half had been required, with a scale of rents diminishing as labour increased or the soil deteriorated, the peasant could have had no reason to complain of the exactions of government A _jung_ of the best _sáwah_ lands will produce between forty and fifty _ámats_ of _pári_, each _ámat_ weighing about one thousand pounds. Suppose a cultivator occupied a quarter of a _jung_ of such land, he would reap ten _ámats_, or ten thousand pounds of _pári_, and allowing a half for the government deduction, would still retain five thousand pounds, which is equal to about eight quarters of wheat. The best _sáwah_ lands return about forty-fold; _sáwah_ lands of the second quality yield from thirty to forty _ámats_ the _jung_; and they are considered of inferior quality when they yield less than thirty. From these last, two-fifths or one-third was required as the landlord's share. _Tégal_ lands were assessed at one-third, one fourth, or one-fifth of their produce, according to their quality, and their produce in value is about a fourth of _sáwah_ lands of the same relative degree in the scale. In Bengal, according to Mr. Colebrooke's excellent account of its husbandry, "the landlord's proportion of the crop was one-half, two-fifths, and a third, according to the difference of circumstances." The value in money of a crop of rice grown on a _jung_ of the best land under the wet cultivation, may amount to one hundred and sixty Spanish dollars; and on a _báhu_ (the space occupied by an individual cultivator), forty dollars. I formerly stated the price of the implements of husbandry, the price of buffaloes or oxen, the expence of building a house, and providing it with the necessary furniture. The whole farming stock of a villager may be purchased for about fifteen or sixteen dollars, or for little more than a third part of the produce of his land in one year. The price of labour, the price of cattle and of grain, as well as the fertility of the soil, varies in different parts of the island; but, in general, it may be laid down as an indisputable proposition, that from the natural bounty of the soil, the peasantry might derive all the means of subsistence and comfort, without any great exertion of ingenuity, or any severity of toil, if their government made no greater demand than the shares stated above.