of the late prince.  He told me that, a few hours before the Raja’s death, his mother had placed in his arms for adoption the son of his sister, a very handsome lad of ten years of age—­but whether the Raja was or was not sensible at the time he could not say, for he never after heard him speak; that the mother of the deceased considered the adoption as complete, and made her grandson go through the funeral ceremonies as at the death of his father, which for nine days were performed unmolested; but, when it came to the tenth and last—­which, had it passed quietly, would have been considered as completing the title of adoption—­Raghunath Rao and his friends interposed, and prevented further proceedings, declaring that, while there were so many male heirs, no son could be adopted for the deceased prince according to the usages of the family.

The widow of the Raja, a timid, amiable young woman, of twenty-five years of age, was by no means anxious for this adoption, having shared the suspicions of her husband regarding the practices of his mother; and found his sister, who now resided with them in the castle, a most violent and overbearing woman, who would be likely to exclude her from all share in the administration, and make her life very miserable, were her son to be declared the Raja.  Her wish was to be allowed to adopt, in the name of her deceased husband, a young cousin of his, Sadasheo, the son of Nana Bhao.  Gangadhar, the younger brother of Raghunath Rao, was exceedingly anxious to have his elder brother declared Raja, because he had no sons, and from the debilitated state of his frame, must soon die, and leave the principality to him.  Every one of the three parties had sent agents to the Governor-General’s representative in Bundelkhand to urge their claim; and, till the final decision, the widow of the late chief was to be considered the sovereign.  The minister told me that there was one unanswerable argument against Raghunath Rao’s succeeding, which, out of regard to his feelings, he had not yet urged, and about which he wished to consult me as a friend of the late prince and his widow; this was, that he was a leper, and that the signs of the disease were becoming every day more and more manifest.

I told him that I had observed them in his face, but was not aware that any one else had noticed them.  I urged him, however, not to advance this as a ground of exclusion, since they all knew him to be a very worthy man, while his younger brother was said to be the reverse; and more especially I thought it would be very cruel and unwise to distress and exasperate him by so doing, as I had no doubt that, before this ground could be brought to their notice, Government would declare in his favour, right being so clearly on his side.