erred from the jurisdiction of the local authorities to the
'Hozoor Tehsel,' without due inquiry; and report, for the
consideration of his Majesty and his minister, any _nankar_ or rent-
free lands, assigned, of late years, by Amils and other governors of
districts; to enforce the payment of all recoverable balances, due on
account of past years; to muster the troops, and report, through the
commander-in-chief, all officers and soldiers borne on the muster-
rolls, and paid from the treasury, but in reality dead, absent
without leave, or unfit for further service;" in short, to reform all
abuses, and make the government of the country what the King and his
minister thought it ought to be. Dursun Sing assured them that he
would do his best to effect all the objects they had in view; and,
after recovering possession of his estates, and conciliating, by
suitable gratuities, all the reigning favourites at Court, he went to
work heartily at his Herculean task after his wonted way. But he,
soon after, became ill, and retired to his residence at Fyzabad,
where he died on the 20th of August, 1844, leaving his elder brother,
Bukhtawar Sing--my Quartermaster-general--at Court; and his three
sons, Ramadeen, Rughbur Sing, and Mann Sing, to fight among
themselves for his landed possessions and immense accumulated wealth.

The minister was a man of good intentions; and, having inherited an
immense fortune from his uncle, Hakeem Mehndee, he cared little about
money; but he was an indolent man, and indulged much in opiates, and
his object was to reform the administration at the least possible
cost of time and trouble to himself. He had, he thought, found the
man who could efficiently supervise and control the administration in
all its branches; and he invested him with plenary powers to do so.
Of the duty, on his part and that of his master; efficiently to
supervise and control the exercise of these plenary powers on the
part of the man of their choice, in order to prevent their being
abused to the injury of the state and the people; or of the necessity
of taking from Court favourites the nomination of officers to the
charge of all districts and all fiscal and judicial Courts, and to
the command of all corps and establishments, in order to render them
efficient and honest, and prevent justice from being perverted, and
the revenues of the state from being absorbed on their way to the
treasury, they took no heed. Court favourites retained