an anna, and 16 annas make a rupee, which is a silver coin nearly equal in value to half a dollar. The currency consists of bank-notes, silver, and copper. Only the banks established by the government issue bank-notes. The silver coins consist of rupees and parts, and the copper coins are parts of annas. Gold is not now a legal currency, and there is but little in circulation. The government has a large mint in Calcutta, and another in Bombay. There are Insurance Societies in the large cities, and also banks which do large business in loans, discounts, and exchange. These kinds of business are well understood by the native merchants. Indeed, exchange appears to have been in operation in India long before it was used in Europe. Many of the native bankers and merchants are intelligent, enterprising, and wealthy, and they often furnish a large part of the capital of the English merchants.

The foreign commerce is chiefly in Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay. The trade for the last year of which I have seen the accounts, was:- Imports at Calcutta, $26,415,850; at Madras, $4,530,020; at Bombay, $20,553,565. Of these $37,594,800 were from England. The exports in the same year were: from Calcutta, $50,740,190; from Madras, $8,364,440; from Bombay, $20,553,565. Of these, $35,132,350 were to England.

AGRICULTURE.

The agriculture of India, though it has been so long ranked among civilized countries, is in a very rude state. There has probably been very little change in the implements of labor or the mode of cultivation for 2,000 years past. The implements used are few in number, and their construction is extremely rude. The ploughs and harrows in general use would scarcely be recognized in this country, as designed for such a use. The cultivators understand very well the different kinds of soil, and for what kind of grain each soil is best adapted. Manures are but little employed in general cultivation, but are used in some places for horticulture and for sugar-cane and tobacco. As manure is seldom used for grain, and the ground is not in other respects well prepared, the crops are generally light, and the same kinds of grain are commonly repeated till the produce will

not pay the tax, the seed, and the labor, and then it is abandoned for some years. Cultivated in this imperfect way, several acres in India do not produce more than one acre in America. The cultivated lands of each village are generally situated together. They are not separated from the pasture-lands by any wall or fence, and the cattle and sheep graze under the care of boys, who restrain them from injuring the crops of grain. The fields belonging to different owners are not separated from each other by any wall, fence, or hedge, but only by posts or marks at the different corners. Indeed, walls or fences, or hedges of any kind are seldom seen in India, except around villages, houses, and gardens.

Rice is much cultivated, and in some districts is the principal article of food. It is prepared for food in various ways, in some of which it becomes better than I have seen it in any other country. In other districts wheat, millet, and other cereal grains are cultivated. The inhabitants depend chiefly on the produce of the gardens and fields for subsistence. The brahmins and some other classes never eat any kind of meat, and the great body of the people using it sparingly.

Indigo is produced in large quantities, and India supplies Europe and America with this article. The districts in which it is most cultivated, are chiefly in Bengal. English capital is largely employed in its cultivation. The labor of the cultivation and the manufacture is performed by the natives, but the work is superintended by Europeans. Under their care and skill the quality of the article has been much improved, and the quantity has been greatly increased. The plant grows to the height of 3 or 4 feet, with a hard and woody stem of a gray color about the root, green in the middle, and reddish in hue towards the top. It is divided into a variety of knotty stalks with small sprigs terminating with about 8 pair of leaves each, of an oval shape, thick and of a dark green on the under-side. It is in these leaves that the coloring matter forming the dye is chiefly found, and it is obtained by macerating, beating, and washing them, and afterwards passing the highly colored liquor into boilers, where it is subjected to a certain degree of evaporation, and eventually run off into moulds, pressed free from moisture and dried ready for the market. An ordinary plantation comprises

4,000 acres of land, which may yield on an average 1,000 maunds of 82 lbs each.

The cultivation of the

The poppy is largely cultivated. poppy and the manufacture of opium is a monopoly of the government in all places subject to the East India Company. The poppy is a delicate plant requiring good soil and much care in its cultivation. The cultivation of the poppy and the manufacture of opium from it are under the superintendence of government agents, and all that is produced belongs to the government, the cultivators being paid for their labor at fixed rates. This cultivation is carried on only in the valley of the Ganges, and the opium is chiefly disposed of by monthly auction sales in Calcutta. The cost to the government is generally from 125 to 150 dollars per chest of 140 lbs., and the price realized by sale is generally from 450 to 500 dollars per chest. It is nearly all exported to China, and other places east from India. Opium is also largely cultivated in some districts in Malwa, which are subject to some native princes. In these places the East India Company does not interfere with its cultivation. But as these districts have no sea-coast, the opium in order to be exported must be carried to some seaport through the territory belonging to the East India Company, and for this transit a heavy tax is exacted. Much of this opium is brought to Bombay, and is exported to China and other places east from India. The revenue realized from the monopoly in Bengal, and from the transit-tax in Bombay, is large. In the revenue accounts for 1852, which are the last I have seen, it amounted to £4,562,586, or more than $18,000,000.

Sugar-cane has been cultivated in India from the earliest periods of history. It was probably the "sweet cane" mentioned by Moses, and its product was "honey made by the hands of men," mentioned by Herodotus. Sugar is made for domestic use over a large part of India, and it is exported in large quantities from some districts, chiefly from Bengal, to foreign countries. The climate and soil of a large part of India are well adapted for its cultivation, and there is land in abundance suited to its growth. But skill is required to improve its quality, and capital might extend its cultivation to an indefinite extent.

Cotton is indigenous in India, and is mentioned in the Vedas,

and in the Institutes of Menu, the earliest works of Indian origin. Herodotus also speaking of India says, "The wild trees of that country bear fleeces as their fruit, surpassing those of sheep in beauty and excellence, and the Indians use cloth made from those trees." For some centuries a large part of the cotton produced in India was manufactured into cloths, and then exported to Europe and the western countries of Asia. But since the invention of machinery and its application to the manufacture of cloths in Europe, most of the cotton of India, beyond what was required for home consumption, has been exported in its raw state to England and China. The great demand for cotton in England for her manufacturing interests, the large supplies procured from America, the comparatively small quantity and inferior quality of the cotton received from India, and the strong desire of the English people generally to obtain their supplies from their own possessions, have induced the East India Company to make great efforts to increase the quantity and improve the quality of this article in India. With this view, some 20 or 25 years ago, they procured large quantities of cotton-seed and some saw-gins from the United States, and sent them to India - the former to be distributed over the country, and the latter to be worked, and also to be for samples for making others, if these should succeed well. As these means did not produce the results which had been expected, the East India Company engaged a number of men from the United States, who were well acquainted with the cultivation of cotton in their respective localities, to proceed to India with the view of improving the cultivation of cotton in that country. Accordingly some 12 or 15 such men from Mississippi and other Southern States, proceeded to India at different times within 20 years past. They were to carry on their operations in different parts of the country; some of them in the districts under the government of Bengal, some in the districts under the government of Madras, and some of them in districts subject to the government of Bombay. They examined the different kinds of cotton produced, the modes of cultivation, cleaning, and packing, the different kinds of soil, etc. In some places they made suggestions and gave instructions to the native cultivators, and in other districts they superintended experimental farms and plan

tations, where the American mode of cultivation and cleaning could be fully introduced, and the native cultivators become ac quainted with it. Most of these men, becoming discouraged with the unexpected obstacles and difficulties which beset them, or dissatisfied with the government agents in connection with whom they had to carry on their various operations, soon returned to America. A few of them remained for several years, but I am not aware that there is any one of them at the present time in India. Great expectations in England and in India were entertained of these experiments, and great dissatisfaction was expressed at the result. The quantity of cotton produced was little, if any, increased, nor did it appear that there had been any general, or would be much permanent improvement in the quality. In both these respects, expectations were disappointed. The enterprise and experiment were generally considered to be a failure. Different causes were assigned by the men employed, by the government agents, by the merchants in India, and by the manufacturers and public in England.

Whether any further means will be used to improve the cultivation of cotton in India by procuring seed and gins, and superintending knowledge and skill from America, remains to be seen. There is no reason to doubt that the quantity of cotton produced in India would soon be increased to several times its present yearly average, if the quality could only be improved so as to obtain a higher price. And it is the opinion of many competent judges that the quality of the different species might be greatly improved by better cultivation of the plant, and more careful cleaning and packing, adapting all to the climate, seasons, etc. It is certain that the finest fabrics used in Europefor several centuries were made of the cotton of India, and that some of the finest fabrics now manufactured in the world, as the Dacca muslins, and some others, are still made in India, and made of the cotton of India, and without the aid of machinery, a manner in which such fabrics could not be made in any country in Europe. And if the cotton for such fine fabrics. was formerly produced in India, and is still produced there in a few places, where there is sufficient demand to pay for its cultivation, the manufacturers of England are confident that, as India formerly supplied Europe with such fine fabrics manu