leading ryots of the village in connection
with their own fields.

[Illustration: COOLIE'S HUT.]

This first cleaning of the fields--or, as it is called, _Oustennie_--being
finished, the lands are all again re-ploughed, re-harrowed, and then
once more re-cleaned by the coolies, till not a weed or spot of dirt
remains; and till the whole surface is uniformly soft, friable, moist,
and clean. We have now some breathing time; and as this is the most
enjoyable season of the year, when the days are cool, and roaring wood
fires at night remind us of home, we hunt, visit, race, dance, and
generally enjoy ourselves. Should heavy rain fall, as it sometimes does
about Christmas and early in February, the whole cultivation gets
beaten down and caked over. In such a case amusements must for a time
be thrown aside, till all the lands have been again re-ploughed. Of
course we are never wholly idle. There are always rents to collect,
matters to adjust in connexion with our villages and tenantry,
law-suits to recover bad debts, to enforce contracts, or protect
manorial or other rights,--but generally speaking, when the lands have
been prepared, we have a slack season or breathing time for a month or
so.

Arrangements having been made for the supply of seed, which generally
comes from about the neighbourhood of Cawnpore, as February draws near
we make preparations for beginning our sowings. February is the usual
month, but it depends on the moisture, and sometimes sowings may go on
up till May and June. In Purneah and Bhaugulpore, where the cultivation
is much rougher than in Tirhoot, the sowing is done broadcast. And in
Bengal the sowing is often done upon the soft mud which is left on the
banks of the rivers at the retiring of the annual floods. In Tirhoot,
however, where the high farming I have been trying to describe is
practised, the sowing is done by means of drills. Drills are got out,
overhauled, and put in thorough repair. Bags of seed are sent out to
the villages, advances for bullocks are given to the ryots, and on a
certain day when all seems favourable--no sign of rain or high
winds--the drills are set at work, and day and night the work goes on,
till all the cultivation has been sown. As the drills go along, the
hengha follows close behind, covering the seed in the furrows; and once
again it is put over, till the fields are all level, shining, and
clean, waiting for the first appearance of the young soft shoots.

Thes