same privileges were annexed to them as to the former. The holders of _púsáka_ lands were very seldom the occupants; they generally remained about the court, and on the approach of the rice harvest deputed agents to collect their share of the crop. They do not let their lands for specific periods. The cultivators are liable to be turned out at pleasure, and when ejected, have no claims to compensation for improvements made while in possession, such as water-courses, or plantations of fruit trees made by themselves or their parents." "We must make a distinction," say the Dutch Commissioners appointed to investigate this subject in 1811, "between the _Príangén_ regencies, the province of _Chéribon_, and the eastern districts. Throughout the whole extent of the _Príangen_ regencies exists a pretended property on uncultivated lands, on which no person can settle without the consent of the inhabitants of that _désa_, or village. In the _sáwah_ fields, or cultivated lands, every inhabitant, from the Regent down to the lowest rank, has a share, and may act with it in what manner he pleases, either sell, let, or otherwise dispose of it, and loses that right only by leaving the village in a clandestine manner. "In the province of _Chéribon_, according to the ancient constitution, each district and _désa_, like the _Príangen_ regencies, has its own lands; with the difference, however, that whilst those regencies are considered as belonging to villages and individuals, here the villages and lands are altogether the pretended property of the chiefs, or of the relations or favourites of the Sultans, who even might dispose of the same, with one exception, however, of that part allotted to the common people. Sometimes the Sultans themselves were owners of _désas_ and chiefs of the same; in which case the inhabitants were better treated than in the former instances. If an individual thought himself wronged by the chief, who either sold, hired out, or otherwise disposed of his lands, he took his revenge, not on that chief, but on the person who held possession of the property. To corroborate this statement it may be mentioned, that the lands in the district of _Chéribon_ were for the most part farmed out to Chinese, who increased their extortions in proportion as the chief raised his farm or rent, and thus almost deprived the common people of all their means. "On the north-east coast of the eastern districts, no person can be called a proprietor of rice fields or other lands: the whole country belongs to government, and in this light do all the Regents consider it. The rice fields of a regency are divided among the whole of the population: in the division the chiefs have a share, according to their rank, occupations, or taxes they are paying.