chiefly in hill ranges, and belong, not only to the Buddhist sect, but also to the Brahmans and Jains. The Buddhist examples are the oldest, some of these dating from about the end of the third century B.C., while others reach down. to about the seventh century of our era. The Brahmanical remains of this class ranging from the fourth to the eighth century, are the next in order of time, and the Jaina remains the latest. Notable among Buddhist remains are the caves of Ellora and Ajanta near Bombay, and the Sanchi Tope, near Bhilsa in Central India. The principal Jain works are in Rájputána, Gwaliár, and Bundelkhand. The Brahman style extended over a very long period. The early structures are few in number; those of later date are very numerous, but their exact age is not

easily defined. The Mohammedan architecture may be broadly divided into the earlier and later Pathan and the Mogul; the earlier Pathán extending from A.D. 1193 to 1451; the later Pathán, from 1451 to 1554; and the Mogul from 1554 to 1759. The great difference between the early Pathán and the later Mogul, as great as that between early Norman and Perpendicular, is evident in a comparison of the majestic beauty of the Kutb Minar (A.D. 1220) and of the stern grandeur of the fort of Tughlakábád (both in the neighbourhood of Delhi) with the chaste elegance of the tomb of Táj-Máhal at Agra (A.D. 1630). In sculpture, the Hindu relics consist chiefly of bas-reliefs and statues, Jain symbols-animal, fish, or flower-of the 24 hierarchs of their faith; and Brahman representations of Brahman divinities.

ADMINISTRATION.-The government of the Indian Empire is regulated by the act for the better government of India passed in 1858, by which all the territories formerly possessed by the East India Company are transferred to her majesty, and all the powers of the said Company exercised in her name, all taxes being received in her name and disposed of for the purposes of the government

of India alone. Her majesty's secretary of state for India is now invested with the powers formerly exercised by the Company, or the board of control, and he must countersign all orders and warrants under her majesty's sign-manual. He is assisted by a council of fifteen members, the greater number of whom must be persons who have resided ten years in India, and have not left it more than ten years previous to their appointment. The secretary for India fills up vacancies in the council as they occur. The executive authority in India is vested in the governor-general or viceroy appointed by the crown, and acting under the direction of the secretary of state for India. The governor-general in council has power to make laws for all persons whether British or native within the dominions subject to the British crown, and for all British subjects residing in allied native states. His council consists of five ordinary members and one extraordinary member, namely the commander-in-chief. The ordinary members. preside over the departments of foreign affairs, finances, the interior, military administration, and public works. The ordinary members of the council, the governors of presidencies, and those of provinces are appointed by the crown. The lieutenant-governors are appointed by the governor-general subject to the approval of the secretary of state. The subordinate administration of India is carried out by a large body of functionaries of various ranks, the higher of whom receive their appointments through competitive examinations held in this country. These form what is called the covenanted civil service as distinguished from the uncovenanted civil service, consisting of natives and Eurasians (persons partly of European partly of native parentage) appointed in India. The native states are generally governed by hereditary princes who exercise despotic power. They are more or less controlled, however, by British influence, a British resident agent or commissioner being stationed at their courts.

In the three presidency towns British law is administered, to which both Europeans and natives are subject. In the rest of India only Europeans are subject to British law. In general Mohammedan law is administered to the Mohammedan population, and Hindu laws to the Hindus; but in certain cases the judge may substitute for these the government regulations. Zillah courts, both European and native, are held in every district of British India, and there are native police-courts in each village. The jurisdiction of the native zillah courts extends to cases amounting to 1000 rupees, or on the recommendation of a European judge to 5000. The jurisdiction of the European zillah courts extends to £2000, and they try appeals from the native courts. Criminal cases are tried by jury in the superior courts, and natives are eligible as jurors. Under British rule the harshness of the Mohammedan law has been modified and some Hindu customs opposed to humanity abolished. Slavery was abolished in 1843; the Meriah sacrifices of the hill tribes of Orissa were abolished in 1845; sati or widow-burning was abolished by Lord William Bentinck in 1829.

In 1842 an act was passed to enable the inhabitants to form municipalities, but as it proved ineffectual, three acts were passed respectively in 1850, 1856, and 1868 to render the formation of various orders of municipalities compulsory, when government saw fit to enforce them. Nearly a thousand municipalities,

with an aggregate population exceeding 14,000,000, have been formed in the different presidencies under these acts, and local taxation for police and local improvements has been enforced. Local self-government has thus been extensively introduced, but in some places the pressure of local taxation has been found to be severe.

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE.-The most important head of revenue is the land-tax, which yields about two-fifths of the whole. The next in importance are opium yielding about one-sixth, salt yielding one-eighth, stamps, customs and excise, each yielding more than one-twentieth, tribute of native states, forests, law, justice, &c., the post-office and the mint, and assessed taxes.

The land revenue is not only the most important item of the government income, but involves the most complicated and difficult question with which the British rulers of India have had to deal since their occupation of the territory, that of the tenure of land. In Bengal the land was made over by permanent settlement to the zemindars or district governors in 1793 on payment to government of ten-elevenths of the existing rental. The value of many of the estates has since been doubled, but the government revenue of course remains stationary. Previously to this settlement land could not be exchanged by sale, as no right of property was recognized in it by government. Stipulations were made in the settlement as to the amount of rent to be paid to the zemindars by the actual cultivators. These stipulations failed, however, to effect the object intended, namely, to preserve for the cultivator security of tenure on reasonable terms, and their failure has caused one of the principal difficulties with which the Bengal government has to deal. The stipulations were not definite in their character, but were merely based on the presupposition of the tenant's right to a continued occupancy of the land as long as he paid to the zemindar the customary rent. But as the settlement put the zemindars virtually in the position of landowners, it became more and more difficult in process of time to determine the rights of the cultivators as against them, and more particularly to fix the amount of the "customary rent" in virtue of the payment of which the tenant's right of occupancy was to be secured. The zemindar of Bengal in fact came to hold almost exactly the position of an English landlord having under him a number of tenants at will. Various attempts were made by the legislature to check this tendency. The most important of these was an act passed in 1859 which was intended to settle the relations of landlord and tenant for the whole of the Bengal Presidency, and which is still in force in the lieutenant-governorship of Bengal and in the Central Provinces, though it has been superseded elsewhere. The main principle established by this law was that undisturbed occupancy during a period of twelve years should be the condition for acquiring immunity from arbitrary ejectment or enhancement of rent. In consequence of this law cultivators in Bengal became divided into two classes, the privileged and the unprivileged holders. The former can be ejected only for non-payment of rent, and cannot have their rent raised except on a decree of court. The latter are tenants at will. There are no statistics to show what proportion the former bear to the latter in Bengal; in the Central Provinces it is nearly as three to five. The experience of years

has shown that the land laws of Bengal are still in need of revision. Apart from the fact that there is still so large a proportion of tenants at will, whose position is generally one of extreme poverty in consequence of the high rent they have to pay, the effect of the law of 1859 has been to produce an antagonism of interests between the landowner and the tenant. The landowner resorts to every means that the law permits to prevent the tenant from acquiring occupancy rights under that act, and even takes advantage in many cases of the ignorance and helplessness of the tenant to adopt illegal means of doing so. In addition to that a practice exists in some parts of Bengal, called the thikadári system, under which the hardships of the tenant are still further increased. Under this system the zemindar lets out his rights to a contractor for a term of years, and the contractor is but too ready to make use of the most unsparing measures of oppression in order to make the best of his bargain. Enactments for the prevention of such abuses are at present under the consideration of the Bengal government.

In the North-west Provinces the tenure of land is settled on the basis of the system of the Emperor Akbar. The distinctive feature of this system is that the village community, not the individual proprietor or cultivator, is held responsible for the government rent. Akbar, however, recognized no proprietors, while the middlemen by whom the rents are collected from the cultivators are recognized by the British government as proprietors of the land. In Oudh the talukdars were dispossessed of their proprietary rights in 1857, and after the mutiny their whole property was confiscated. This was found to have been a mistake, and they were reinstated in 1859, and recognized as permanent and hereditary proprietors, with reservation of some rights to the cultivators, and a half of the gross rental to government. Liberty was given in 1869 to revert to Mohammedan law, and there are still various tenures in Oudh. In the Panjab the principle of the North-west Provinces was introduced. The old village communities were there in much better preservation than in the provinces, hence the bulk of the proprietors are actual cultivators, and the assessment is distributed by the village elders.

In the Madras Presidency what is known as the ryotwari system, introduced by Sir Thomas Munro, prevails. The settlement is made directly with the ryot or cultivator, who is secured in possession as long as he pays the government tax. The waste lands may be taken by the first comer on the same terms. In Malabar, however, there are proprietary landlords. The Malabar system is, that after deducting 20 per cent for reaping, the landlord receives one-third of the remaining proceeds, two-thirds going to the cultivator for expense and remuneration. The landlord's one-third is divided between the proprietor and the government. There are in this presidency also, however, many great zemindars, whose position is similar to that of those in Bengal. Under them the cultivators occupy the land as tenants, and of late years a doubt has arisen as to the legal status which such tenants hold. Till 1871 zemindari tenants in Madras seem to have enjoyed nearly the same rights as ryots holding directly under government. The zemindar was believed not to