who was passing this place many years ago, and talking with us as you are now, that we commenced this grove.  “Look over this plain,” said he, “it has been all denuded of the fine groves with which it was, no doubt, once studded; though it is tolerably well cultivated, the traveller finds no shelter in it from the noonday sun—­even the birds seem to have deserted you, because you refuse them the habitations they find in other parts of India.”  We told him that we would have the grove planted, and we have done so; and we hope God will bless our undertaking.’

’The difficulty of getting land is, I suppose, the reason why more groves are not planted, now that property is secure?’

’How could men plant without feeling secure of the land they planted upon, and when Government would not guarantee it?  The landholder could guarantee it only during the five years of lease;[14] and, if at the end of that time Government should transfer the lease of the estate to another, the land of the grove would be transferred with it.  We plant not for worldly or immediate profits, but for the benefit of our souls in the next world—­for the prayers of those who may derive benefit from our works when we are gone.  Our landholders are good men, and will never resume the lands they have given us; and if the lands be sold at auction by Government, or transferred to others, we hope the certificate of the collector will protect us from his grasp.’[15]

‘You like your present Government, do you not?’

’We like it much.  There has never been a Government that gave so much security to life and property; all we want is a little more of public service, and a little more of trade; but we have no cause to complain; it is our own fault if we are not happy.’

’But I have been told that the people find the returns from the soil diminishing, and attribute it to the perjury that takes place in our courts occasionally.’

’That, sir, is no doubt true; there has been a manifest falling off in the returns; and people everywhere think that you make too much use of the Koran and the Ganges water in your courts.  God does not like to hear lies told upon one or other, and we are apt to think that we are all punished for the sins of those who tell them.  May we ask, sir, what office you hold?’

’It is my office to do the work which God assigns to me in this world.’

’The work of God, sir, is the greatest of all works, and those are fortunate who are chosen to do it.’

Their respect for me evidently increased when they took me for a clergyman.  I was dressed in black.

’In the first place, it is my duty to tell you that God does not punish the innocent for the guilty, and that the perjury in courts has nothing to do with the diminution of returns from the soil.  Where you apply water and manure, and alternate your crops, you always get good returns, do you not?’

’Very good returns; but we have had several bad seasons that have carried away the greater part of our population; but a small portion of our lands can be irrigated for want of wells, and we had no rain for two or three years, or hardly any in due season; and it was this deficiency of rain which the people thought a chastisement from heaven.’