Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c9.s40.3

c9.s40.3

The officials of the rural branch so to say, to whom Megasthenes applied the general designation *agronomoi*, supervised irrigation and land-measurement, hunting and enforcement of forest laws and all the occupations connected with agriculture mining, carpentry and metal industries. They also collected taxes and maintained the roads, setting up mile-stones indicating distances at every ten stades (a little over a mile). This seems to be a summary account of the duties of a large number of officials rather than of the activities of a single board².