of great public emergency; and, as the present cannot be considered as one of these occasions, he does not feel authorized to issue such orders.  On the Ganges, many men have made large fortunes by pretending a general authority to seize boats for the use of the commissariat, or for other Government purposes, on the ground of having been once or twice employed on that duty; and what they get is but a small portion of that which the public lose.  One of these self-constituted functionaries has a boat seized on its way down or up the river; and the crew, who are merely hired for the occasion, and have a month’s wages in advance, seeing no prospect of getting soon out of the hands of this pretended Government servant, desert, and leave the boat on the sands; while the owner, if he ever learns the real state of the case, thinks it better to put up with his loss than to seek redress through expensive courts, and distant local authorities.  If the boat happens to be loaded and to have a supercargo, who will not or cannot bribe high enough, he is abandoned on the sands by his crew; in his search for aid from the neighbourhood, his helplessness becomes known—­he is perhaps murdered, or runs away in the apprehension of being so—­the boat is plundered and made a wreck.  Still the dread of the delays and costs of our courts, and the utter hopelessness of ever recovering the lost property, prevent the proprietors from seeking redress, and our Government authorities know nothing of the circumstances.

We remained at Baghauri the 21st to enable our people to prepare for the long march they had before them, and to see a little more of our Jubbulpore friends, who were to have another day’s shooting, as black partridges[2] and quail had been found abundant in the neighbourhood of our camp.[3]

Notes: 

1.  Or Saugor, the head-quarters of the district of that name in the Central Provinces.  The town is 109 miles north-west of Jabalpur.  The author took charge of the Sagar district in January 1831.

2. Francolinus vulgaris.

3.  The purveyance system (Persian rasad rasani) above described is one of the necessary evils of Oriental life.  It will be observed that the author, though so keenly sensitive to the abuses attending the system, proposes no substitute for it, and confesses that the small attempt he made to check abuse was a failure.  From time immemorial it has been the custom for Government officials in India to be supplied with necessaries by the people of the country through which their camps pass.  Under native Governments no officials ever dream of paying for anything.  In British territory requisitions are limited, and in well ordered civil camps nothing is taken without payment except wood, coarse earthen vessels, and grass.  The hereditary village potter supplies the pots, and this duty is fully recognized as one attaching to his office.  The landholders supply the wood and grass.  None