Trade Centres.

The chief local trade centres are Pen, Nagothna, Revdanda, Roha, Ghodegaon, and Mahad.

Pen.

Pen has about 100 traders, mostly Konkanasth Brahmans, Marwar and Gujarat Vanis, and some Prabhus, with capitals varying from £100 to £1000 (Rs. 1000-Rs. 10,000). They are nearly all independent traders, but none of them have any specially high social position. The chief articles of export are salt, rice, dry-fish, timber, and firewood. The dealer either buys salt from the Agris, or makes it in his salt pans; the rice and grain are bought in the villages or taken as rent from tenants. The salt, timber, and fish go to the Deccan, the firewood to Bombay, and the rice to Gujarat. During the 1876-77 famine, grain was sent in large quantities from Pen to the Deccan. Both by land and by sea the export trade is almost wholly in the hands of carriers, who are distinct from the merchants. The carriers are chiefly shipowners from Ratnagiri, and cart and pack-bullock drivers from above the Sahyadris. The chief articles of import are cloth, gram, wheat, tur; bajri, groundnuts, onions, garlic, chillies, turmeric, potatoes, molasses, kasumb Carthamus tinctorius, oilcake, tobacco, oil, and clarified butter. Tobacco is bought in Bombay, and cloth in Bombay and the Deccan either by traders or their agents. Oil and clarified butter are brought to Pen by carriers in carts or on pack-bullocks, and are there bought by Pen dealers for ready money.

Nagothna.

Nagothna contains about sixteen traders, Marwar Vanis, Konkanasth Brahmans, Prabhus, and Musalmans, with capitals varying from £200 to £1000 (Rs. 2000-Rs. 10,000). Nearly all are independent traders- The chief exports are wood and rice. The wood comes from the neighbouring forests, especially from the Sudhagar forests in the Bor state. It is bought by the Nagothna timber-dealers at Government auctions and sold to Bombay merchants, who come to Nagothna with their boats. Rice, which is much grown in the Nagothna petty-division and in the Bor state, is bought from the growers and sold at Nagothna to Ratnagiri traders. The imports are mostly oil, clarified butter, tobacco, and cloth. These articles are chiefly bought from Pen merchants and sold either retail or wholesale to shopkeepers in the town and neighbouring villages.

Revdanda.

Revdanda contains about thirty or forty merchants, mostly Gujarat and Marwar Vanis, and Konkanasth Brahmans. Nearly all are independent traders with capitals varying from £50 to £500 (Rs. 500-Rs. 5000). The chief exports are rice to Ratnagiri and wood to Bombay. The imports are oil, clarified butter, tobacco, and cloth.

Roha.

Roha has about fifty traders, chiefly Gujarat and Marwar Vanis, Konkanasth and a few Deshasth Brahmans, Bohoras, and Musalmans. Nearly all are independent traders with capitals varying from £50 to £1500 (Rs. 500-Rs. 15,000). The chief exports are wood, salt fish, and rice. Wood is bought in the neighbouring villages at auction  sales, and rice from husbandmen, and sold to Bombay and Ratnagiri merchants who carry these articles in their own vessels. The fish are caught and dried by Koli fishermen, and sold to Deccan traders, who generally themselves attend and buy the fish for ready money. The chief imports are oil, clarified butter, chillies, cocoanuts, and cloth. Oil, clarified butter, and chillies are brought in carts or^- on pack-bullocks by carriers from Satara. Cocoanuts come from Alibag where they are bought direct from the growers, or from the Malabar coast whence they are brought by the owners of country craft. Cloth is brought from Mahad, Sholapur, Baramati in Poona, Nagpur, and Bombay.

Ghodegnon.

Ghodegaon has about fifteen traders, mostly Gujarat Vanis with capitals varying from £50 to £500, (Rs. 500-Rs. 5000). The chief export is rice which is bought from the neighbouring husbandmen or village shopkeepers, and sold to Bombay and Ratnagiri traders who export it in their own vessels. The chief imports are oil, molasses, tobacco, wheat, gram, millet, cocoanuts, and cloth. Oil, molasses, and grain are brought to Ghodegaon in carts through Mahad by up-country traders. Cocoanuts are chiefly brought by Bombay boatmen. Cloth is brought from Bombay through agents and from Mahad direct.

Mahad,

Mahad contains about 100 traders, chiefly Gujarat and Marwar Vanis and Bhatias. Nearly all are independent traders with capitals varying from £50 to £5000 (Rs. 500-Rs. 50,000). The chief exports are rice, nachni, and vari. These articles are bought by the Mahad merchants from the neighbouring husbandmen and sold to traders from Ratnagiri, Devgad, and the Malabar coast, who export them in their own vessels. The imports from the Deccan districts are cloth, grain, gram and wheat, molasses, chillies, oil, tobacco, onions, garlic, turmeric, tamarind pods, clarified butter, groundnuts, oilcakes, coriander seed, and blankets, of the aggregate value of about £12,000 (Rs. 1,20,000). Cloth is chiefly bought in Nagpur, Bagalkot in Kaladg, and Yeola in Nasik through agents. The other articles are brought from above the Sahyadris, and sold either retail or wholesale to shopkeepers in the town of Mahad and in other parts of the district.

Fairs.

Fairs are held at twenty-three places, eight of them in Alibag, two in Pen, three in Roha, nine in Mangaon, and one in Mahad. They last from one day to thirty days, and the attendance varies from 250 to 4000. These fairs are chiefly places for distributing goods, especially metal pots. Of these fairs the most important is the fair at Mahad, which is visited by manufacturers and petty traders, chiefly of the Tambat caste, and by people from Mahad and the country about twenty-five miles round. The value of the total sales averages about £500 (Rs. 500). There is little barter.

Kolaba Fairs.

continued..

Markets.

Markets are held at Alibag. Revdanda, Kihim, Poynad, Ramraj, Ambepur, ana Nagaon in Alibag; at Pen and Nagothna in Pen; at Mangaon and Nizampur in Mangaon; at Roha and Ashtami in Roha; and at Mahad in the Mahad sub-division. Alibag, Revdanda, Pen,, Nagothna, Roha, Ashtami, and Mahad have daily and the rest have weekly markets. The weekly markets are chiefly distributing centres. The average attendance varies from 200 sellers and 1500 buyers at Poynad to fifteen sellers and 100 buyers at Nagaon. The chief' articles sold are grain, pulses, groceries, salt, vegetables, grass, firewood, and salt fish. Except vegetables, grass, and firewood which are sold by neighbouring villagers and salt-fish by Koli fishermen, these articles are sold by petty dealers who either attend personally or send agents to the markets. Except at harvest time (October - November) when grain is sometimes exchanged for groceries and salt, there is very little barter.

Shopkeepers.

As a rule shopkeepers are found only in large villages; but temporary shops are opened at harvest time in almost all villages by Marwar Vanis from neighbouring country towns. The village shopkeeper who is either a Gujarat or a Marwar Vani, and in a few cases a Shimpi or a Shenvi, Sells groceries, spices, salt, grain, and cloth. He is not exclusively a distributor, but to a certain extent gathers grain from the villagers. The village shopkeeper, being very often the village moneylender, rarely buys grain for ready money, but often realises it as interest on money or grain advanced to the husbandmen. What he gathers he sells to merchants in large trading towns. Except during harvest time when grain is sometimes exchanged by the poor for groceries, the village shopkeeper as a rule takes ready money for what he sells. The more prosperous village shopkeepers keep agents who visit fairs and markets. Except that on opening a new shop a Marwar Vani has often to borrow funds, the village shopkeeper is not, as a rule, connected with any large trading firm.

Carriers.

Except the very lowest castes, Mhars and Mangs, all classes of people, including even Brahmans, carry goods in carts. Cartmen are not, as a rule, well-to-do. Except in Nagothna, where most of the carts belong to large landholders and traders who use them for carrying their own goods, the cartmen of Pen and Mahad are chiefly Deccan Marathas and Vanis.' They come down the Sahyadris in the beginning of the fair season (December) with wheat, gram, oil, clarified butter, and chillies, and go back carrying salt from Pen, and cocoanuts, dried fish, and other coast produce from Mahad. These cartmen sell their goods either retail to consumers in the open market, or wholesale to brokers or dalals, and to large traders. While in the district they hire out their carts to carry rice and fuel from the country into the towns and large villages. The Roha and Alibag cartmen as a rule do not trade, but hire out their carts. Although the cart traffic between Kolaba and the Deccan has lately much increased, Kolaba cartmen rarely travel into other districts.

Besides carriers in carts, there are carriers on pack-bullocks, chiefly Lamans, Marathas, Vanis, and Musalmans. Lamans, of whom there are about twenty families, come into Pen from the Deccan at the close of the rains, buy rice from husbandmen in the Bor or Pant Sachiv's state, and sell it to merchants at Nagothna. These families own about 300 bullocks, and each has a capital of from £4 to £5 (Rs. 40-Rs. 50). They also sometimes trade between Pen and the Deccan. In Mahad there are many Maratha bullock-drivers. At Morbe, Sai, Vighavli, Magti, and Kosimle, many Musalmans and a few Vanis, with a capital of from £5 to £50 (Rs. 50-Rs. 500), keep pack-bullocks and go from village to village in Mangaon and the Habsan's territory, buying corn which they sell in the larger towns.

Imports.

The chief IMPORTS are: Of building materials, beams and planks of Malabar teak, mortar, paint, and nails screws hinges and Such other iron work; of house furniture, glass and porcelain, copper and brass pots, and copper sheets, for making pots; of food, drink, drugs and stimulants, dried fruits, cocoanuts, betelnuts, wheat, gram, chillies, spices, oil, tobacco matras or native drugs, moha spirit, and foreign spirits of all kinds; of tools and appliances, cutlery, such as knives, razors, scissors, needles, hoes, and mattocks, and raw iron for making field tools; and of dress, silk, calico, woollen cloth, canvas, cotton thread, umbrellas, coarse hand-woven cloth, turbans, waistcloths, robes, and shoes.

Teak beams are usually brought from Bombay in hired boats by contractors or house-builders. Small quantities for house repairs are got from contractors, of whom there are one or two in each large town. The wealthier classes chiefly use Malabar teak in housebuilding, especially for the pillars, railings, and doors. The best mortar comes from Bombay, but the mortar in ordinary use is made in the district. Paint comes from Bombay and is sold to house-painters by Bohoras and Gujarat Vani grocers. Nails and iron-work come from Bombay, and are sold retail by Bohora and Gujarat Vani shopkeepers. Glass and porcelain, which are used only by the well-to-do are brought from Bombay by Bohoras, Gujarat Vanis, and sometimes by Christian and Bhandari tavern-keepers.

The better sorts of brass pots come from Poona and Nasik, and the poorer sorts from Bombay. Except that a few Marwar Vanis sell brass pots either bought from peddlers or imported from Bombay and Poona, the sellers of brass vessels are mostly Maratha peddlers who carry baskets of brass pots for sale from house to house. Brass pots are used by the well-to-do for drinking and eating, and, when tinned, for cooking. Copper pots are mostly made in the district, but a few specially good ones come from Bombay and Poona. Except that a few Gujarat Vani shopkeepers sell them by retail, people generally buy their copper pots in Bombay. Copper sheets are bought in Bombay at the rate of about 10½d. (7 as.) a pound by Tambats, who make them into pots. The local demand for copper pots is said to be decreasing. Dried fruits, chiefly dates, come from Bombay. They are. thought a strengthening food for children, and the women of the upper classes eat them on fast days. Cocoanuts and betelnuts come from the Malabar and Ratnagiri coasts by Bombay, and are bought in Bombay by shopkeepers either direct or through agents. They are freely used by all classes, cocoanuts in booking and in religious ceremonies and the milk as a cosmetie, and betelnuts after dinner for sweetening the breath. Wheat and gram come to Alibag by sea from Bombay, and into the east of the district from above the Sahyadris on pack-bullocks and in carts. They are used by the upper classes, the wheat as bread and the gram with rice as a relish. Chillies come from the Deccan in carts and from Bombay by sea. All classes use them as a seasoning. Most spices come from Bombay, but, in Mahad, Pen, and a few other parts, coriander seed is brought from above the Sahyadris. Shopkeepers either import spices or buy them of the importers and sell them retail in the smaller villages.

Oil, chiefly from til or sesamum seed, comes in carts from above the Sahyadris and by sea from Bombay and Bhiwndi in Thana. Shopkeepers as a rule import the oil they retail. The oil is used in cookery and for lighting. For lighting, sesamum oil has of late been much superseded by kerosine oil, or as it is generally called gaslight oil, which is sold by Bohoras and other shopkeepers. Tobacco comes chiefly from Bombay by sea, and to a small extent from the Deccan by road. It is brought from Bombay by merchants who sell it to shopkeepers for retail sale; from the Deccan it is brought by carriers in carts and on pack-bullocks, and is sold to consumers and retail dealers. Tobacco is smoked and taken in snuff, and is chewed with pan-supari by all classes.

Matras, or native drugs and charms, are brought from the Ratnagiri hills by travelling physicians. They are made from metallic ash fused with the juice or pounded leaves of herbs. They are sold mostly in round or long pieces and sometimes in the form of powder. The common way of using these charms is to rub them against a stone and to administer the powder in water, honey, or syrup. The people have much faith in these medicines, but, as a rule, the rich alone can afford to buy them. Town physicians also buy them and keep them in stock. The use of these drugs is decreasing owing to the introduction of English medicines.

Moha spirit is imported, in boats by the liquor-contractor from the Uran distilleries to Dharamtar or Nagothna, whence it is sent in small quantities to the contractor's taverns in the chief towns of the district. Except in the garden Villages, where liquor distilled from palm-juice is much used, moha spirit is largely drunk in all parts of the. district. Foreign spirits are brought from Bombay either by consumers or by licensed tavern-keepers who sell them retail. Well-to-do Marathas, Malis, and Bhandaris prefer European to country liquor, and the use of European liquor is said to be becoming general among upper-class Hindus.

Cutlery and needles are brought from Bombay, mostly by Bohoras. Except a few that are brought to Alibag from Bombay at cheaper rates and of better make, hoes and mattocks are mostly made in the district. The iron is brought in bars from Bombay by Bohoras and sold retail to village Lohars. The Lohar makes it into ploughs, nails, wheel tires, and axles, and into smaller field and house tools.

Town merchants buy silk cloth, either direct or through agents, from Yeola, Nasik, Nagpur, Poona, and Sholapur in the Deccan. As a rule silks are sold only in the larger towns; but the coarser sorts are sometimes sold retail in the larger villages. Silk cloth is mostly used by the upper classes. Rich men's children often have silk as a full dress, but men do not wear silk except for waist cloths and dinner cloths. It is believed that silk is now less used than formerly, and that its place has been taken by the finer European cotton piecegoods.

Calico and European piecegoods come direct or through agents from Bombay, and are sold retail in large towns, except that occasionally village Marwar Vanis buy these goods from merchants in large towns and retail them to villagers. European goods are used by all classes and are in increasing demand from their cheapness, fineness, and smoothness. The best calico costs about 8d. (5 as. 4 ps.), and the cheaper sorts about 4½d. (3 as.) a yard. The finer woollen cloth, which is used by the upper classes, is brought from Bombay, and the blankets or coarser woollens, used by the poor, are woven in the district. Canvas and linen cloth are not used to any considerable extent, the sails of country vessels being of cotton and generally bought in Bombay. Cotton thread is brought by Bohoras from Bombay. Umbrellas are brought from Bombay and sold by cloth merchants and general dealers. Coarse handloom or dangri cloth, the every-day clothing of the lower classes, comes mostly from Bombay. The finer dangri, used in making carpets or jajams, screens, and cushions, is brought to Mahad from Nagpur. Turbans come from Yeola, Sholapur, and Poona, and are worn by all who can afford to buy them. Professional turban-folders are found in all the large towns. Except that some Marwar and Gujarat Vanis from Kathiawar wear their turbans in the high rounded fashion of their country, turbans are folded in the deep fiat rimmed shape known as the Deccan Brahman turban. English cotton waist-cloths are largely used. Waistcloths of white silk, bordered with red and other colours, are brought from Shahapur near Belgaum and from Gadag in Dharwar. Lugdis or women's robes, generally of cotton bordered with silk, come from Poona, Sholapur, Ahmadabad, and rarely from Burhanpur. The ordinary size of a woman's robe or lugdi is from fifteen to eighteen cubits long by two to two and a half cubits broad, and the richer the wearer the fuller is her robe. Smaller robes, fourteen to sixteen cubits long and two to two and a half broad, are worn by girls and by women of the lower classes. The smaller size of robe varies in price from about 3s. to 10s. (Rs. 1½-Rs. 5) and the larger-sized robe from 8s. to £2 (Rs. 4-Rs. 20). The shoes used in the district are mostly made by Deccan shoemakers, who bring them for sale, some of them also settling in the district for a few days and making shoes. Pearls of small value, both false and real, are sold by wandering dealers, most of them Bombay Bohoras. All classes buy pearls, the lower classes mostly false ones.

Of late years there has been a gradual but marked increase in the import of beams and planks of Malabar teak, paint, mortar, glass and porcelain, country and foreign spirits, calico, European goods, and woollen cloth for coats and jackets. Glass, porcelain, calico, woollen cloth and other European articles are used by the middle and upper classes, chiefly by Brahmans and Prabhus.

Exports.

The chief EXPORTS are: Timber, rice, nagli, vari, pulse, cocoanuts, betelnuts, salt, fowls, dried fish, and firewood. There are seldom middlemen, the exporter generally brys from the producer. The exporter is either an independent local dealer, or the partner or agent in a firm in the place to which the exports are sent. Timber goes to Bombay through Bhatias, Vanis, and Bombay Musalmans; rice nagli and other grains go both to Bombay and Ratnagiri; to Bombay they are sent by Bombay traders, chiefly Bhatias Vanis and Musalmans, and sometimes by rich growers themselves; to Ratnagiri they are sent by Daldi Musalmans and Bhandaris, who trade either independently on a small scale, or in partnership with Vanis. Salt and dried fish are exported by petty dealers of the lower classes.

As there is no railway in the district, the trade keeps to the old lines of traffic between the Sahyadri passes and the ports.