=Khar-Lakar.=—The composition for ‘wood and forage’ afforded a considerable supply. When the princes of Mewar were oftener in the tented field than in the palace, combating for their preservation, it was the duty of every individual to store up wood and forage for the supply of the prince’s army. What originated in necessity was converted into an abuse and annual demand. The towns also supplied a certain portion of provisions; where the prince halted for the day these were levied on the community; a goat or sheep from the shepherd, milk and flour from the farmer. The maintenance of these customs is observable in taxes, for the origin of which it is impossible to assign a reason without going into the history of the period; they scarcely recollect the source of some of these themselves. They are akin to those known under the feudal tenures of France, arising from exactly the same causes, and commuted for money payments; such as the _droit de giste et de chevauche_.[3.1.48] Many also originated in the perambulations of these princes to visit their domains;[3.1.49] a black year in the calendar to the chief and the subject. When he honoured the chief by a visit, he had to present horses and arms, and to entertain his prince, in all which honours the cultivators and merchants had to share. The duties on the sale of spirits, opium, tobacco, and even to a share of the garden-stuff, affords also modes of supply [145].[3.1.50] ----- Footnote 3.1.1: _Miscellaneous Works_, vol. iii. Footnote 3.1.2: Hallam’s _Middle Ages_. Footnote 3.1.3: It is a high gratification to be supported by such authority as M. St. Martin, who, in his _Discours sur l’Origine et l’Histoire des Arsacides_, thus speaks of the system of government termed feudal, which I contend exists amongst the Rajputs: "On pense assez généralement que cette sorte de gouvernement qui dominait il y a quelques siècles, et qu’on appelle _système féodal_, était particulière à l’Europe, et que c’est dans les forêts de la Germanie qu’il faut en chercher l’origine. Cependant, si au lieu d’admettre les faits sans les discuter, comme il arrive trop souvent, on examinait un peu cette opinion, elle disparaitrait devant la critique, ou du moins elle se modifierait singulièrement; et l’on verrait que, si c’est des forêts de la Germanie que nous avons tiré le gouvernement féodal, il n’en est certainement pas originaire. Si l’on veut comparer l’Europe, telle qu’elle était au xii^e siècle, avec la monarchie fondée en Asie par les Arsacides trois siècles avant notre ère, partout on verra des institutions et des usages pareils. On y trouvera les mêmes dignités, et jusqu’aux mêmes titres, etc., etc. Boire, chasser, combattre, faire et défaire des rois, c’étaient là les nobles occupations d’un Parthe" (_Journal Asiatique_, vol. i. p. 65). It is nearly so with the Rajput. Footnote 3.1.4: Gibbon, _Miscell._ vol. iii. Du gouvernement féodal. Footnote 3.1.5: