eless; four will bear firing a few rounds. For
these four he has bullocks, but they are not yet in condition. Of the
seer and half of corn, drawn for each bullock per diem, only half a
seer is given. Of the corps, more than one-half of the men are at
Lucknow, in attendance upon Court favourites; and of the half present
not one-third are fit for the work of soldiers.

The Amil rode by my side, and I asked him about the case of the
marriage-procession. "Sir," said he, "what you heard from Seoraj-od
Deen is all true. Imam Buksh had a strong fort in his estate of
Ouseyree, five miles to our right, where he had a formidable gang,
that committed numerous dacoitees and highway robberies in the
country around. I was ordered to attack him with all my force. He got
intimation, and assembled his friends to the number of five thousand.
I had not half the number. We fought till he lost seventy men, and I
had thirty killed and fifteen wounded. He then fled to the jungles,
and I levelled his fort with the ground. He continued, however, to
plunder, and at last seized the bridegroom and all the marriage
party, and took them to his bivouac in the jungles. The family was
very respectable, and made application to me, and I was obliged to
restore him to his estate, where he has lived ever since in peace. I
attacked him in November 1848, and he took off the marriage party in
February following." "But," said a poor hackery driver, who was
running along by my side, and had yesterday presented me a petition,
"you forgot to get back my two carts and bullocks which he still
keeps, and uses for his own purpose, though I have been importuning
you ever since." "And what did he do to you when he got you into the
jungles?" "He tied up and flogged all who seemed respectable, and
worth something--such as merchants and shopkeepers--and poked them
with red-hot ramrods till they paid all they could get, and promised
to use all the influence and wealth of their families to force the
Amil to restore him to his estate on his own terms." "And were the
parties married after their release?" "Yes, sir, we were released in
April, after the Amil had been made to consent to his terms; and they
were married in May; but I could not get back my two carts." "And on
what terms did you restore this Imam Buksh to his estate?" "I granted
him a lease, sir," said the Amil, "at the same rate of five thousand
rupees a-year which he had paid before."*

[* This Imam Buksh, in A