76 SANTAL P 4IeGANAS
police rules of 1856 a mandal or headman was elected for each village
where the zaminddr's mustdjir was not approved by the Magistrate
and villagers, his duties consisting of the free performance of police
and other public duties. As, however, it was unsatisfactory to have
two heads to a village, the zaminddrs mustdjir and the ryot mandal
gradually merged into one, with the result that a mustdjir, when
appointed, had to secure the approval of the Magistrate, zaminddrs,
and villagers. The position of the headman thus developed was
defined at the settlement: he has duties towards the zaminddr, the
ryots, and the Magistrate; he may be dismissed by the last-named
personage on his own motion or on the complaint of the zaminddr
or ryots ; and the stability of tenure secured by Regulation III of
1872 prevents the zaminddr from ousting him. The rights of a head-
man are not usually transferable, but in the Deogarh subdivision some
headmen known as ntul--ryots are allowed to sell their interest in a vil-
lage. In 1887 Government passed orders to prevent the sale of ryots'
holdings being recognized by the courts in areas in which no custom
of sale had been proved. In 1888 the revision of the settlement of
1873-9 in certain estates was undertaken, and the work is being
gradually extended throughout the District.
Prominent among the unusual tenures of the District are the ghdt-
wdlis of taped Sarath Deogarh, which cover almost the whole Deogarh
subdivision and are also found in Jamtara and Dumka. These are
police tenures, originally established by the Muhammadan government
to protect the frontier of Bengal against the Marathas.
Cultivable land is divided generally into five classes : three kinds of
dhdni or rice land, and two kinds of bdri or high land. Dhdni lands
are classified according to the degree by which they are protected from
drought, and the average rates or rent may be said to be for the first
class Rs.3, for the second RS. 2, and for the third R. is First-class
bari land is the well-manured land near the homesteads, averaging
R. i ; while second-class bdri lands include the remainder of the cul-
tivation on the dry uplands, and average 4 armas. Rates vary widely
and the averages are only an approximation. In the recent settlement,
the average rent for dhdni land over 6oo acres of typical zaminddri
country was Rs. i-i i per acre, and for bdri land 6 annas, and the
corresponding figures for the Daman-i-koh were Rs. 1-9 and R. 0-5-4.
Ryots have, however, been allowed abatements in the settlement
actually concluded, and the settled rents do not average more than
Rs. 1-8 an acre for dhdni lands, and 8 annas for bdri land. In the
Daman-i-koh the average holding of a cultivator is 92 1 acres, of which
41 acres are dhdni land; the total average rent rate is Rs. 8-14, but the
average rent settled is only Rs.6-1 per holding. In private settled
estates the rents payable are somewhat higher.
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