relatives and prosecutors; and, as the robbers denied before him that they were the murderers, he could not, or pretended he could not, legally sentence them to punishment The King was, in consequence, obliged to take them from his Court, and get them sentenced to perpetual imprisonment by another Court, not trammelled by the same law of evidence.  This difficulty arises from blood having its price in money in the country where the law was made, or the Deeut; any person who had a right to share in this Deeut, or price of blood, was therefore held to be an invalid or incompetent witness to the fact.

On the road from Bahraetch to Gungwal we saw very few groves or fine single trees on either side.  The water is close to the surface, and the soil good, but for the most part flooded during the rains, and fit only for rice-cultivation.  To fit it for the culture of other autumn crops would require a great outlay in drainage; and this no one will incur without better security for the returns than the present government can afford.  Ramdut Pandee is the greatest agricultural capitalist in these parts.

On the 8th of December it had become known all over the city of Lucknow, that the King had promised Captain Bird that he would banish Gholam Ruza and his sister, and Kotub Allee, across the Ganges; and it was entered in the news-writer’s report, though Captain Bird had spoken of it to no one.  He was asked by the minister whether he would excuse the King for not keeping his word so far, and said he could not.  He demanded an audience of the King, who tried to avoid a meeting by pleading indisposition; but the first Assistant, being very urgent, he was admitted.  He found the King in a small inner room lying on a cot covered with a ruzae or quilt.

There were closed doors on the side of the room where the cot stood, and Captain Bird perceived that persons were behind listening to the conversation.  On the minister advancing to meet him at the door.  Captain Bird declined taking his proffered hand, and in a loud voice declared—­“that he believed that he was mixed up with the fiddlers, and was afraid of their being removed, or he would have carried his Majesty’s order for their dismissal into effect.”  He then advanced to the King, shook him by the hand, apologized for intruding upon him after his excuse of illness, and stated—­“that his own character was at stake, and he had been obliged to take this step to save it, and requested that the minister might be told to retire during the conversation, as he had already shown his partiality for the characters whom his Majesty had stigmatized as low, intriguing, and untrustworthy—­as ruiners of his good name and his kingdom, and the cause of ill-feeling between the British Government and himself.  The King expressed a wish that the minister might remain, that he might have an opportunity to listen to what Captain Bird had to state, as it appeared to be against