ned with my force;
the son remained in possession of the estate, and all the surrounding
country was delighted to hear that so atrocious a character had been
got rid of."

This was all true, and the Amil did not seem to think that any one
who listened to him could suppose that he had done anything
dishonourable in all this: he seemed to think that all must feel as
he did, seeing his utter inability to cope with these baronial
robbers in any other way, and the evils they every day inflicted upon
the people. This Aman Sing was the most formidable of these robbers
in this district, and the high road from Lucknow to Fyzabad was for
some time closed by his gang. Of those whom he robbed, he used to
murder all who appeared likely to be able to get a hearing at Court
or at the Residency.

The Behraleea Rajpoots, of the Soorujpore Behreyla purgunna, are now
the most formidable and inveterate robbers and plunderers in the
district. The Rajah of this estate, Singjoo, was for some years the
most formidable robber in Oude. He had taken a dislike to the family
of a sipahee of the Governor-General's bodyguard; and, in an evil
hour, he buried the sipahee's father, and some members of his family,
alive. Strong remonstrances were made through the Resident, and Man
Sing, the son of Dursan Sing, who has been already mentioned in this
diary, had orders to seize him. In March, 1845, he made a march of
forty miles at the head of five hundred active and brave men; and, on
the night of the 20th of that month, reached the gate of the fort of
Soorujpore, broke it open, entered, killed and wounded fifty of the
Rajah's men, and lost five of his own.

The Rajah escaped and took shelter in the fort of Goura. After taking
possession of the fort, eight guns, and some elephants, and releasing
two hundred unhappy prisoners, Man Sing followed the Rajah to Goura,
where he was joined by Captain Magness and his corps. The gate of
this fort was giving way before Man Sing's pickaxemen, when Singjoo
surrendered. He was taken to Lucknow, and there died in gaol. The
village, in which his father had been buried alive, Hukkamee, was
given to the sipahee, and is still held by the family;* but they are
a good deal worried in the possession by the widow of the old Rajah,
who still lives at Soorujpore, and would be as formidable as her late
husband was if she could.

[* In the interval, during which Singjoo held this village, he had
added to its boundaries a good