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It is said that the coolie if he wishes it can leave the garden, but unless
he leaves the country he will not improve his condition by doing so,
and under the sardari system he is tied by his advance so that there
does not seem much likelihood of the average coolie being able to
adopt the latter course. His only chance is an advance from his
sardar to cover the cost of his journey, and unless a coolie so indebted
can be trusted to return, or to provide a substitute, he is not likely
to obtain this. The coolie already heavily in debt will certainly find
it difficult to get away. Many coolies do leave the Duars temporarily
or permanently, but these for the most part are the ones who have
prospered, and those who are going to recruit, or others who have
come to the Duars with the intention of remaining only a few
months.
Perhaps one of the most striking object-lessons in the Duars is
the condition of the "bustees" or villages where the old coolies have
settled down to cultivation. A distinction must be drawn between
true villages and " bustees, " which are in reality only garden lines situ-
ated on or off garden land. In the case of the latter, things are much
the same as those already mentioned, but when we come to the true
village communities we generally find conditions very different to
those general on the gardens. The houses conform to the type al-
ready described as the ones with which the permanent garden resident
usually provides himself, well built with plinth and verandah and
plastered within and without. The children are generally found to
be fat and healthy, the people usually cheerful and showing evidence
of existing in fair comfort. Yet these people almost always are to be
seen living in places that would be picked out as the most swampy
and presumably most unhealthy situations in the district, such places
being, of course, the most suitable for rice cultivation.