This rule of primogeniture is,
however, often broken through during the lifetime of the father, who,
having more of natural affection than family pride, divides the lands
between his sons. After his death they submit to this division, and
take their respective shares, to descend to their children, by the
law of primogeniture, or be again subdivided as may seem to them
best; or they fight it out among themselves, till the strongest gets
all. Among landholders of the smallest class, whether Hindoos or
Mahommedans, the lands are subdivided according to the ordinary law
of inheritance.
Our army and other public establishments form a great "safety-valve"
for Oude, and save it from a vast deal of fighting for shares in
land, and the disorders that always attend it. Younger brothers
enlist in our regiments, or find employment in our civil
establishments, and leave their wives and children under the
protection of the elder brother, who manages the family estate for
the common good. They send the greater part of their pay to him for
their subsistence, and feel assured that he will see that they are
provided for, should they lose their lives in our service. From the
single district of Byswara in Oude, sixteen thousand men were, it is
said, found to be so serving in our army and other establishments;
and from Bunoda, which adjoins it to the east, fifteen thousand, on
an inquiry ordered to be made by Ghazee-od Deen Hyder some twenty-
five years ago.
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