thout any orders whatever having been passed on them, and
sent to his deputies for such as they may think proper to pass,
merely inserting his figure 1, 5, or 10, to indicate the date, on the
outermost document of each bundle. If any orders are inserted by his
deputies on the rest, they have only to insert the same date. There
is nothing but the _figure_ to attest the authenticity of the order;
and it would be often impossible for the minister himself to say
whether the figure was inserted by himself or by any other person.
These deputies are the men who adjust all the nuzuranas, or
unauthorized gratuities, to be paid to the minister.

[* On the 17th of October, 1850, Hassan Khan, one of the _khowas_, or
pages, whose special duty it is to deliver all papers to the King,
fell under his Majesty's displeasure, and his house was seized and
searched. Several of the Resident's official notes were found
unopened among his papers. They had been sent to the palace as
emergent many months before, but never shown to the King. Such
official notes from the Resident are hardly every shown to the King,
nor is he consulted about the orders to be passed upon them.]

They share largely in all that he gets; and take a great deal, for
which they render him no account. Knowing all that he takes, and
_ought not to take_, he dares not punish them for their
transgressions; and knowing this, sufferers are afraid to complain
against them. In ordinary times, or under ordinary sovereigns, the
sums paid by revenue authorities in _nazuranas_, or gratuities,
before they were permitted to enter on their charges, amounted to,
perhaps, ten or fifteen per cent.: under the present sovereign they
amount, I believe, to more than twenty-five per cent. upon the
revenue they are to collect. Of these the minister and his deputies
take the largest part. A portion is paid in advance, and good bonds
are taken for the rest, to be paid within the year. Of the money
collected, more than twenty-five per cent., on an average, is
appropriated by those intrusted with the disbursements, and by their
patrons and patronesses. The sovereign gets, perhaps, three-fourths
of what is collected; and of what is collected, perhaps two-thirds,
on an average, reaches its legitimate destination; so that one-half
of the revenues of Oude may be considered as taken by officers and
Court favourites in unauthorized gratuities and perquisites. The pay
of the troops and establishments, on