THE OUTLYING REGIONS 199 
me much more probable that this peculiar feature of Bengal 
developed gradually under the pressure of exceptional 
circumstances, until figures which were originally prepared 
for use in granting Assignments became eventually a stan- 
dard of the recurring Demand on the Intermediaries, not 
liable to alteration, but liable to be supplemented by cesses 
in the way that Grant describes. There is no doubt that 
the fixed ideas which Grant brought with him from Hydera- 
bad to Bengal coloured the whole of his work in the latter 
province, and, as I have said above, I have had no oppor- 
tunity of checking his interpretation of the statistics by 
the documents which he used; what I have attempted is to 
offer an hypothesis of his account, which may perhaps be 
of assistance to students of any local records of the period 
that may still survive. 
On this hypothesis, we may say provisionally that, when 
Bengal was annexed by Akbar, there were some Chiefs, and 
some old-established Farmers, how many we cannot say, 
both classes paying fixed sums by way of Demand; and 
that, apart from the areas so held, the officials or assignees 
dealt with the villages either through Farmers or through 
the headmen. The Valuation of the province, made 
primarily for administrative use, came, in the absence 
of any other data, to set the standard of the Demand made 
by the State, and the officials came, as Shore stated, to 
occupy the position of Farmers, paying the amount of the 
Valuation, and making what they could. As time went on, 
the distinction between Chiefs, Farmers, and officials 
disappeared, because there was in fact no difference in the 
incidents of the various positions, and all alike came to be 
known as zamindars. The English records already quoted 
suggest that this transition may have been complete by the 
end of the seventeenth century, but their application is 
litnited to so small an area that further evidence is required 
for a conclusion on this point. While, however, the Demand 
on the Intermediaries was not formally varied, they were 
not allowed to retain the entire profits resulting from the 
restoration and development of commerce which occurred 
in the second half of the seventeenth century; the existing 
Demand was supplemented by cesses, which were increased