“True,” said Nawab Allee, “very true; we can plant groves and make wells, but we cannot venture to erect costly buildings of any kind.  You saw the Nazim of Khyrabad, only a few days ago, bringing all his troops down upon Rampore, because the landlord, Goman Sing, would not consent to the increase he demanded of ten thousand, upon seventeen thousand rupees a-year, which he had hitherto paid.  Goman Sing took to the jungles; and in ten days his fine crops would all have been destroyed, and his houses levelled with the ground, had you not interposed, and admonished both.  The one at last consented to take, and the other to pay an increase of five thousand.  Only three years ago, Goman Sing’s father was killed by the Nazim in a similar struggle; and landholders must always be prepared for them.”

February 21st, 1850.—­Bureearpore, ten miles south-east, over a plain of the same fine soil, well cultivated, and carpeted with the same fine crops and rich foliage.  Midway we entered the district of Ramnuggur Dhumeree, held by Rajah Gorbuksh Sing under the security of Seoraj-od Deen, the person who attempted in vain to arrest the charge of the two regiments upon the Khyrabad Nazim by holding up the sacred Koran over his head.  He met me on his boundary, and Nawab Allee and the Nazim of Baree Biswa took their leave.  Nawab Allee’s brother, Abud Allee, came to pay his respects to me yesterday evening.  He is a respectable person in appearance, and a man of good sense.  The landscape was, I think, on the whole richer than any other that I have seen in Oude; but I am told that it is still richer at a distance from the road, where the poppy is grown in abundance, and opium of the best quality made.*

[* Opium sells in Oude at from three to eight rupees the seer, according to its quality.  In our neighbouring districts it sells at fourteen rupees the seer, in the shops licensed by Government.  Government, in our districts, get opium from the cultivators and manufacturers at three rupees and half the seer.  The temptation to smuggle is great, but the risk is great also, for the police in our districts is vigilant in this matter.]

Still lamenting the want of all architectural ornament to the scene, and signs of manufacturing and commercial industry, to show that people had property, and were able to display and enjoy it, and gradations of rank, I asked whether people invested their wealth in the loans of our Government.  “Sir,” said Bukhtawur Sing, “the people who reside in the country know nothing about your Government paper; it is only the people of the capital that hold it or understand its value.  The landholders and peasantry would never be able to keep it in safety, or understand when and how to draw the interest.”

“Do they spend more in marriage and other ceremonies than the people of other parts of India, or do they make greater displays on such occasions?”