206 THE AGRARIAN SYSTEM OF MOSLEM INDIA 
distinction denoted by the two words only emerged as a 
result of the discussions of early British administrators; 
but, so far as it can be answered at all, the answer must be 
that the Moslem system ordinarily comprised both elements. 
The power of the Chiefs varied inversely with the strength 
of the central administration, but they persisted throughout 
the period, and their position was in essentials that of the 
modern zamindar, liable to pay, or account for, an annual 
sum fixed in advance, and making what they could out of 
the peasants under their control. The distinction between 
the two periods is found mainly in the modern tenancy 
legislation, which determines the relation between land- 
holder and peasants in detail: so far as we know, similar 
limitations were not ordinarily imposed on the Chiefs by 
the Moslem governments. 
On the other hand, the Reserved areas might certainly 
be described as ryotwari during the periods when salaried 
officials dealt directly with individual peasants. When the 
officials dealt with the headmen, an element of uncertainty 
is introduced by the dual position occupied by these repre- 
sentatives, for every headman was potentially a zamindar, 
though many acted merely as agents of the peasants. 
When again the officials dealt with farmers, the modern 
classification cannot be applied, for, so long as the farms 
were for short periods, the tenure was too uncertain to be 
classed as zamindari, and it is only towards the close of the 
period that it acquired a degree of stability justifying the 
application of that term. 
The position of an assignee was no less ambiguous, for 
while he sometimes exercised powers approximating to 
those of a modern zamindar, his tenure was ordinarily far 
too short and precarious for him to be called by that name. 
Again we have to allow for the multiplication of authorities. 
An assignee might receive his income from farmers dealing 
with headmen, who in their turn dealt with the peasants, 
and in such a case the rights now known as zamindari were 
distributed between various individuals. It is not then 
by the road of formal classification that the student should 
approach the subject. His need now is the need which 
Holt Mackenzie pressed on the early British administrators,