age to Mecca. She had
long been cohabiting with the chief singer, Gholam Ruza, and was
known to be a very profligate woman. She is said to have given his
Majesty to understand that she would not consent to remain in the
palace with him without the privilege of choosing her own lovers, a
privilege which she had freely enjoyed before she came into it, and
could not possibly forego.

__________________________

CHAPTER II.

Bahraetch--Shrine of Syud Salar--King of the Fairies and the
Fiddlers--Management of Bahraetch district for forty-three years--
Murder of Amur Sing, by Hakeem Mehndee--Nefarious transfer of
_khalsa_ lands to Tallookdars, by local officers--Rajah Dursun Sing--
His aggression on the Nepaul Territory--Consequences--Intelligence
Department--How formed, managed, and abused--Rughbur Sing's
management of Gonda and Bahraetch for 1846-47--Its fiscal effects--A
gang-robber caught and hung by Brahmin villagers--Murder of
Syampooree Gosaen--Ramdut Pandee--Fairies and Fiddlers--Ramdut
Pandee, the Banker--the Rajahs of Toolseepoor and Bulrampoor--Murder
of Mr. Ravenscroft, of the Bengal Civil Service, at Bhinga, in 1823.

Bahraetch is celebrated for the shrine of Syud Salar, a _martyr_, who
is supposed to have been killed here in the beginning of the eleventh
century, when fighting against the Hindoos, under the auspices of
Mahmood Shah, of Ghuznee, his mother's brother. Strange to say,
Hindoos as well as Mahommedans make offerings to this shrine, and
implore the favours of this military ruffian, whose only recorded
merit consists of having destroyed a great many Hindoos in a wanton
and unprovoked invasion of their territory. They say, that he did
what he did against Hindoos in the conscientious discharge of his
duties, and could not have done it without God's permission--that God
must then have been angry with them for their transgressions, and
used this man, and all the other Mahommedan invaders of their
country, as instruments of his vengeance, and means to bring about
his purposes: that is, the thinking portion of the Hindoos say this.
The mass think that the old man must still have a good deal of
interest in heaven, which he may be induced to exercise in their
favour, by suitable offerings and personal applications to his
shrine.

The minister reports to the Resident on the 9th, that the King had
relented, and wished to retain the singer, Ruzee-od Dowlah, and his
sister, and Kot