VARIATIONS IN TRIBAL EXPLOITATION 45 The problems in Khandesh were compounded by the intensity of disorder and lawlessness that the British inherited. The internecine warfare had ravaged the countryside leaving behind only memories of former prosperity.10 The tribals i.e. the Bhils were the most ferocious of the "bandits". Thus the problem of settling the tribals on land in Khandesh assumed politico-military forms along with the economic. The first two decades of British rule in Khandesh witnessed a considerable deployment of arms and men to subdue the Bhils ; together with policies of economic concession designed to win favour. It was only when a part of the tribal population was drafted into service under the banner of the Bhil Corps, created to fight and subdue Bhil "gangs'5 or "marauders" that the British were able, in some measure, to pacify the "restive" populace. By 1828, the Collector could report on the relative peace and quiet in the area "for the first time in twenty years".11 The simultaneous problem of restoring the economy of Khandesh took longer. The initial policy of maintaining some of the earlier structure of assessments but at a lower level did not pay dividends. Tillage did not improve with the thirty per cent reduction in rates. In 1852 when Captain Wingate undertook the first systematic survey of lands in the area he found that only 14 per cent of the estimated arable land was under tillage. About 25 per cent of the villages stood completely deserted.12 In Thana district the British spent the first four decades gathering information on the nature of assessment which tended to differ, often from one taluka to another :13 and attempted a revival of agricultural production to a level sufficiently profitable for the raiyat to pay his revenue charge (many of which had been reduced in 1836-40), and maintain his level of expenditure/investment.14 For the British, the tribals constituted the dark and ignoble savages inhabiting a territory which was inaccessible15; but which held the promise of future colonization and potential revenue. But the districtwise reduction of extant revenue charges did not affect the tribal areas ; and the lack of hegemony over such a large portion of the district, inhabited by tribals who almost "belonged to another country"16 was the subject of official correspondence in the first four decades of British rule. By 1852 both Khandesh and Thana were subject to survey operations under the supervision of Captain Wingate and his lieutenant, Captain Francis. In Thana district it took twelve years for the survey and classification of lands to be completed. By 1865 the remoter areas ofDahanu, Mokhada, Wada and Mahim had been surveyed and plots earmarked for tribal settlement. Necessarily, the survey rules for the presidency, adumbrated in the Joint Report of 184817 for the classification and allotment of lands had to be modified in a district where half the population lived off shifting cultivation and areas were hitherto unassessed or classified The tribals were