buried the lemon in a pit seven cubits deep, throwing into
the hole above it mustard and salt, and over these dust and stones,
and filling in the space between the stones with lead. At each corner,
too, the Joshi drove in an iron nail, two feet long, which he had
previously charmed. The lemon buried, the people returned home, and not
one of them ever saw the Bhut thereafter. According to the recorder
of the tale, the cure was effected by putting quicksilver into the
lemon. When a man is attacked with fever or becomes speechless or
appears to have lockjaw, his friends conclude from these indications
that he is possessed by a Bhut.

In another case some Bhats had been put in charge, by the chief of a
small State, of a village which was coveted by a neighbouring prince,
the Rana of Danta. The latter sent for the Bhats and asked them to
guard one or two of his villages, and having obtained their absence
by this pretext he raided their village, carrying off hostages and
cattle. When the Bhats got back they collected to the number of a
hundred and began to perform _Dharna_ against the Rana. They set
out from their village, and at every two miles as they advanced they
burned a man, so that by the time they got to the Rana's territory
seven or eight men had been burnt. They were then pacified by his
people and induced to go back. The Rana offered them presents, but
they refused to accept them, as they said the guilt of the death of
their fellows who had been burned would thereby be removed from the
Rana. The Rana lost all the seven sons born to him and died childless,
and it was generally held to be on account of this sin. [301]

12. The Charans as sureties.

Such was the certainty attaching to the Charan's readiness to forfeit
his life rather than prove false to a trust, and the fear entertained
of the offence of causing him to do so and being haunted by his ghost,
that his security was eagerly coveted in every kind of transaction. "No
traveller could journey unattended by these guards, who for a small
sum were satisfied to conduct him in safety. [302] The guards, called
Valavas, were never backward in inflicting the most grievous wounds
and even causing the death of their old men and women if the robbers
persisted in plundering those under their protection; but this seldom
happened, as the wildest Koli, Kathi or Rajput held the person of a
Charan sacred. Besides becoming safeguards to travellers and goods,
they used