APPENDIX B.

MINUTE OF THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL.

Fort-William, July 26, 1804.

The knowledge hitherto obtained in Europe, respecting certain branches of the natural history of the continent of India, and of the Indian isles is defective. Notwithstanding the progress which has been made within the last twenty years in the prosecution of scientific enquiries connected with the manners, produce and antiquities of this part of Asia, many of the most common quadrupeds and birds of this country are either altogether unknown to the naturalists of Europe, or have been imperfectly and inaccurately described.

The illustration and improvement of that important branch of the natural history of India, which embraces an object so extensive as the description of the principal parts of the animal kingdom, is worthy of the munificence and liberality of the English East India company, and must necessarily prove an acceptable service to

the world.

To facilitate and promote all enquiries which may be calculated to enlarge the boundaries of general science, is a duty imposed on the British government in India by its present exalted situation; and the discharge of that duty is, in a more especial manner, required from us, when any material addition can be made to the pubic stock of useful knowledge without involving considerable expense.

The governor-general entertains a confident persuasion that, with the facilities which we now possess for the collection of accurate information from every part of India, the natural history of this quarter of the globe may be greatly improved and extended within a comparatively short period of time, without involving the neces sity of any material charge on the public resources; but this desirable object will never be attained, unless it shall be made the duty of some public officer, properly qualified for this service, to collect information, and to digest and publish the result of his researches. Under these considerations the governor-general has had it in contemplation, for some time past, to select a person, conversant in natural history, to be employed in the cultivation of that useful science, in the Asiatic possessions of Great Britain.

The knowledge, the learning, and the former habits of Dr. Francis Buchanan have rendered him perfectly competent to the performance of this task, and the governor-general accordingly proposes, that Dr. Buchanan be directed to collect materials for a correct account of all the most remarkable quadrupeds and birds in the provinces subject to the British government in India, and to extend his enquiries as circumstances shall admit, to the other divisions of this great continent, and to the adjacent isles.

To facilitate the discharge of this duty, the governor-general has provided an establishment at Baruckpore, where the quadrupeds and birds which may be collected for Dr. Buchanan, will be kept until they shall have been described and drawn with that degree of attention to _minute distinctions, which is essentially necessary for the purpose of the natural historian.

The governor-general proposes, that circular orders be transmitted to the principal civil and military officers at every fixed station under this presidency, requiring them to instruct the medical gentlemen, under their authority, to correspond with Dr. Buchanan on this subject, and to reply, with dispatch and accuracy, to Dr. Buchanan's letters; that the principal civil and military officers be further directed to authorize their medical officers to solicit assistance and information from all officers of government under their authority, whether European or native, and that they be required to instruct all persons employed in the service of government to afford to their medical officers the necessary assistance in pro

Sic. Rop.

curing such animals as may be required, to communicate the most accurate infor. mation which can be obtained from the most intelligent persons in the vicinity respecting their natural history, and to furnish such aid as may be necessary for the conveyance of the animals to the presideney.

The governor-general proposes, that the right honourable the governor in coun. cil of Fort St. George, the honourable the governor in council of Bombay, and his excellency the governor of the British possessions on the island of Ceylon, and the lieutenant-governor of Prince of Wales's Island, be requested to direct the proper officers, under those governments respectively, to correspond with Dr. Buchanan, and to afford every practicable assistance to Dr. Buchanan, in the prosecution of his researches within the limits of their local authority, and that similar orders be sent to Malacca and to Bencoolen.

With the view of facilitating Dr. Buchanan's correspondence, it will be necessary that the post master-general should be ordered to receive and to forward, free from postage, all letters written by or addressed to Dr. Buchanan, on the subject of his researches in the department of natural history, and that the governments of Fort St. George, Bombay, and Ceylon, be requested to issue similar orders to the post-master-general at those settlements respectively. All letters written by, or addressed to, Dr. Buchanan, on matters connected with the duty now committed to him, must be superscribed on the envelope, with the name of the writer, and with the words “Natural History of India."

The following monthly establishment will be required to enable Dr. Buchanan to perform the duty now assigned to him. For the support of the establishment necessary for the quadrupeds, and birds at Baruckpore,

500 For a painter,

100 For a writer,

40 Stationary and colours, Expense of collecting wild animals and birds,

Total per mensem, Sic. Rup. 1000, or 1251. In proposing the appropriation of the monthly sum of 1,000 rupees, for the purposes described in this minute, it is the intention of the governor-general, to limit, within the amount of 12,000 rupees per annum, the whole of the ordinary expenditure to be incurred in the prosecution of the important objects in his excellepcy's contemplation. Some contingent disbursemm nts may occasionally be required for the construction of buildings for the quadrupeds and birds. The amount, however, will be inconsiderable. It is proposed, at the same time, to authorize Dr, Buchanan to disburse this sum, for such inferior sum as may be required) in such manner as shall appear to Dr. Buchanan to be best calculated to promote the purposes of his appointment, and that he should be directed, at the expiration of every six months, to submit to the governor-general in council in the public department, a detailed account of his actual expenditure, with a report of the progress which may have been made in the course of the prece ing six months, in forming a collection of rare, beautiful, or singular birds at Baruckpore.

In the month of June, 1800, a collection of birds and quadrupeds was commenced at Garden-Reach, for the service of the proposed institution which it was intended at the time to have annexed to the college of Fort William. The expense incurred for these animals since they were transferred to Baruckpore is sic. rup: 2,791,8,6, or 3491.; The amount of this charge will of course be advanced from the general treasury.

The governor-general proposes that the observations of Dr. Buchanan on such subjects of the natural history of animals as may be collected, together with the drawings of each subject, be transmitted once in each season to the honourable the court of directors, with a request to the honourable court to direct the publication of the work, in such a manner as they may deem most

(Signed)

WELLESLET.

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APPENDIX C.

MINUTE OF THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL.

Fort-William, June 1, 1805. Upon the first improvement of the grounds at Baruckpore, it was in the contemplation of the governor-general to combine with the arrangements then adopted at his recommendation, the establishment of an institution calculated to effect the gradual improvement of the agriculture of India, and to meliorate the general condition of our native subjects in these extensive and populous provinces.

To a cursory observer, the extensive and highly-cultivated plains which are to be seen in every part of Bengal, suggest an opinion, that the utmost abundance every where prevails, and that nothing remains to be accomplished to assist the fertility of the soil, or to augment the comforts of the people. On a more accurate investigation, however, it will be found that the great mass of the people who are employed in agriculture (and especially the day-labourers) are in a state of comparative indigence.

The poverty of the lower classes of our native subjects must in some measure be ascribed to the improvident policy of the landholders, in generally renting their lands on short leases at the highest rent which can be obtained, and to the long established practice amongst the Hindoos of every description, of lavishing all the wealth which they can amass in cxpensive religious ceremonies, at the marriages of their children, and for the maintenance and support of religious mendicants, and other idle retainers. It is however an unquestionable fact, that the produce of the soil is infinitely below what it is capable of yielding under proper management, and that the resources and comforts of the people might be much improved, if they were instructed in the best means of convert. ing its natural fertility to the utmost advantage.

Under the present system of Indian agriculture, with the advantage of a soil of uncommon fertility, and of a climate which yields a crop of some description at every season, the industry of a single ploughman, however exerted, is insufficient to enable him to cultivate a greater extent of land within the year than seven acres, and the expense of separating the rice from the husk for culinary purposes, after the grain is reaped, cannot be estimated at a sum inferior to one-fifth part of the value of the grain ; whilst a similar operation can be performed in Englaod, and in other European countries, at an expense not exceeding one-fortieth part of the value of the crop.

Similar defects pervade every branch of Indian agriculture, and in no instances are their injurous consequences more manifestly exemplified, than in the general state of the cattle employed in the labours of the field within these provinces. A breed of strong and powerful black cattle is to be found in very few situations producing good pasture throughout the year; but the weak and inefficient condition of the cattle generally employed for agricultural and other purposes, as well in Bengal as in the upper provinces, cannot have escaped the notice of the most inattentive observer.

The advantages which would accrue from an improvement of the breed of cattle are great and important; but this desirable object can only be accomplished by the introduction of a more perfect system of husbandry, where the skilful application of art shall be employed to provide suitable nourishment for the cattle at those seasons when the pasturage is almost universally destroyed by the parching hcat of the sun.

The

The permanent settlement of the revenues, in the lower provinces, by insu. Ting to the landholder the enjoyment of all the advantages which may arise from the improvement of his property, has contributed essentially to the encouragement of agriculture; under the present-defective system of husbandry, however, the large proportion which the rent, payable to the state, bears to the value of the produce of the soil, operates, in a certain degree, as a check to the employment of the capital of the landholder in the improvement of his property; and this obstacle is only to be removed by the introduction of a system, calculated, at the same time, to augment the produce of the land, and to diminish the expense of preparing the grain for general use.

In the opinion of intelligent European,gentlemen, conversant with the subject, the profits of the landholder might be augmented in a considerable proportion by the introduction of many simple improvements in the implements of agriculture, and in machinery now in general use throughout Europe ; by these means the property of a large proportion of our native subjects would be increased, and gradually the comforts of affluence would be more generally diffused through the mass of the people.

Independently of the moral duty imposed on the British government to provide, by every means in its power, for the improvement of the condition of its subjects, substantial advantages must necessarily be derived by the state from the increased wealth and prosperity of the people. The consumption of all articles of comfort and of luxury, would increase with augmented wealth, and the government would be enriched by the additional produce of the taxes on those articles, without imposing any burden on the people.

Alverting to the genius and habits of the natives of India, it cannot be expected that any attempts will ever be made by them to improve the system of agriculture, practised for ages by their ancestors, unless the example shall be given to them by the government, and unless the personal advantages to be derived from such improvements as shall be found to succeed in practice shall be clearly manifested to them.

Under these considerations, the governor-general is satisfied that the establishment of an experimental farm, under proper regulations, in Bengal, would be an object of great public utility; and he is persuaded that the expense of such an institution would not prove considerable. The object of the establishment ought to be, as already stated, the improvement of the breed of black cattle, the introduction of a better system of agriculture than the system now in general use in these territories, and the reduction of the expense of preparing the grain for consumption, by the use of machinery, or by other means.

The quantity of land required for the proposed farm would not exceed three hundred acres, or nine hundred begas, and the establishment could not be founded in any situation so desirable, on many considerations, as at Baruckpore; and, at that place, manure might be obtained at little expense, and the greater part of the grounds at Baruckpore might be employed as pasture ground for the cattle. The business of the farm would there be conducted under the occasional inspection of the governor-general, whose iufluence might be employed with great advantage to explain the benefits of the plan to the natives of rank and property, and to induce them to introduce, on their own estates, such improvemente as might be found to be useful at Baruckpore.

To superintend the proposed farm with advantage, the assistance of an European overseer of experienced knowledge in the practice and theory of agricul, ture, and of an ingenious European mechanic and civil engineer, would be absolutely and indispensably necessary. These persons ought also to be men of some education, capable of applying the general knowledge they shall have acquired, to the circumstances of a country differing so materially from England in soil, in climate, and in its natural productions; and of explaining, in clear and intelligible language, to be translated for the use of the natives, the principles on which their system of management may be founded, and the prospect of ulti

It would likewise become a part of the duty of the superintendent or overseer, ro correspond on agricultural subjects with intelligent European gentlemen, residingin every part of India, by which meaus a knowledge of the practice of agri. VOL. 9.

* H

mate success.

culture, in its various branches, as established with success in any one province, might be disseminated and tried by actual experiment throughout the British possessions. In this manner the drill husbandry, now practised with advantage in the centre of the Deccan, might be extended to many parts of Bengal; means might be devised to instruct the inhabitants in the preservation of hay, for the use of the cattle, at the season when little or no herbage is to be found, and many other useful improvements might be introduced

Amongst these it has been suggested, that the cultivation of the turnip might be introduced with considerable advantage, for the purpose of feeding cattle at that season of the year, when the deficiency of the articles of food for cattle, now in common use, is most severely felt.

When a sufficient number of intelligent and industrious natives shall have been instructed in the improved system of agriculture, to be introduced at the experimental farm at Baruckpore, they may be dispersed throughout the country, for the purpose of disseminating a knowledge of its advantages; and other establishments may be formed in the distant provinces, as circumstances shall indicate the propriety of the measure, on principles corresponding with those of the proposed establishment at Baruckpore.

It is not improbable that some intelligent Europeans, capable of conducting the business of an experimental farm on these principles, might be found in India; but it appears to the governor-general to be proper, that the establishment of the farm, upon any extended scale, should be postponed, until the sanction of the honour. able the court of directors to the measure can be obtained, who may possess the means of considering this important subject, in concert with those distinguished personages in England, whose recent labours and example have contrib ted so largely to augment the agricultural resources of Great Britain. The question is highly deserving of the mature deliberation and attention of the honourable court, nor can any subject be presented to their notice more worthy of engaging the exertion of that spirit of liberal patronage, which the East India company has always manifested towards every plan of improvement, calculated to meliorate the condition of the natives of these possessions.

The governor-general accordingly proposes, that a copy of this minute be transmitted to the honourable court, with the request of this government, that, in the event of their approving the general principles of the plan, on which it is proposed, that the experimental farm shall be established, the court will Le pleased to engage two active and intelligent Europeans, possessing all the qualifica tions required to enable them to carry the arrangement into execution with a reasonable prospect of success, and to send them to Bengal at as early a period of time as may be practicable. In the meanwhile, such part of the present park at Baruckpore, as may be rendered useful to the proposed purposes, may be applied to them, under the inspection of Mr. Douglas and of Mr. Buchanan. (Signed)

WELLESLEY.