THE LAST PHASE IN NORTHERN INDIA 169

one-half the produce, while in particular localities there were
various allowances and deductions, which further complicate
 the figures; but for land in regular cultivation, and
not liable to injury from special causes, it may be said that
the rates recognised in the annual agreements between
Headmen and peasants ranged upwards, rather than downwards,
 from 20 ser in the maund (40 ser) of produce, and
that 22} ser was a common figure, representing 20 ser for
the Intermediary and 2} for the Brotherhood. This
general standard of payments applied to the ordinary
cultivated land. For specially precarious fields, the charges
ranged from one-third to one-fourth, and down to oneeighth,
 while there were recognised local scales of payment
for land which had been uncultivated for some time.
As regards the methods of assessing the charge, a distinction
 must be drawn between the Doab, where the agreements
 usually rested on the area sown, and the country
beyond the Ganges, where they usually rested on the
produce gathered. In Rohilkhand and Gorakhpur, those
crops which are handled on the threshing-floor were ordinarily
 subjected to Estimation, and the estimated amount
according to the agreed share was valued at the prices
ruling in the nearest market, so that what changed hands
was cash, not grain. Actual division of the produce was
rare, but it was the regular way of settling disputes over the
estimate in the few cases where these occurred. For such
crops as are not handled on the threshing-floor, the agreements
 provided for cash payments at rates per bigha,
which appear to have been recognised in particular localities,
but differed even within a village according to the productive
quality of the soil! Thus in ordinary cases the Headman
received money from the peasants, though in exceptional
cases he might have to market a share of grain in order to
provide cash for paying the revenue.
In the Doab. the agreements usually fixed payments in
' In Rohilkhand these rates were known as zabti, a term which still
survives. It may safely be referred to zabt, the official name for Akbar’s
developed revenue-system, the characteristic feature of which was cashrates
 varying with the crop. The crops paying zabti rates were usually
(1) sugarcane and indigo, where the produce must be worked up as it is
cut; (2) poppy, and vegetables or garden crops, where the produce is
gathered from dav to dav