On arriving at our encamping ground on the 3rd of July, about four miles and a half beyond Sygh[=a]n, a poor villager, a vassal of Mahommed Ali Beg’s, to whom the fort of Sygh[=a]n belonged previous to its cession to the British, came to complain that some of our baggage animals had injured one of his fields by trampling down his grain.  Upon enquiry his story was found to be correct.  Mahommed Ali Beg happened to be paying us a visit when the man presented himself, and wished to drive the poor fellow away to prevent his troubling us; and great indeed was the wonder and astonishment shewn by all the natives about us when Sturt desired that the peasant should receive ten rupees as compensation for the damage done to his crops.

Loud were the praises bestowed upon our extraordinary justice; and Mahommed Ali Beg, forgetting the line of conduct he had but a moment before advocated, delivered the following expression of his reformed opinion in a loud pompous tone, whilst his followers listened, open-mouthed, to the eloquence of their now scrupulous chief:  “Although the Feringhis have invaded our country they never commit any act of injustice;” then, having delivered himself of this inconsistent speech, he lifted a straw from the ground, and turning round to his audience, continued:  “they don’t rob us even of the value of that; they pay for every thing, even for the damage done by their followers.”  Corporal Trim’s hat falling to the ground was nothing to the effect produced by the comparison of the straw; but, alas for human nature!  I had but too strong grounds for suspecting that, of the ten rupees awarded to the peasant, seven were claimed by Ali for having induced the Feringhis to listen to the claim!!

The surrounding hills have here as at Surruk Durrah the appearance of ruined castles, with donjon or keep and tower; they forcibly reminded me of the “Castle of St. John,” in Scott’s Bridal of Triermain, but my visions of Merlin and fair maidens awoken from their charmed slumbers were destroyed by the sight of a little purling brook which promised me a few hours angling.  Nor was I disappointed; for in a short time I (being unprovided with my fishing basket) filled two towels full of fish, and congratulated myself on my sport; however, to use an old phrase, “the proof of the pudding is in the eating,” and so we found it, for when brought to table “my catch” fell far short of our epicurean anticipations, and I almost regretted that I had not continued my dreams instead of disturbing the finny tribe.

A complaint was made to us in the course of the day, that an Huzareh female, returning to her own country with one attendant, had been seized and carried away to one of the adjacent forts, where she was detained; and our interference was requested with a view to obtaining her release.  We were of course most anxious to help the poor woman, especially as it appeared from what was reported to us that there were not the slightest