ad by force of arms;
deserted their homes, and took to the jungles with as many followers
as they could collect and subsist, as soon as he entered on his
charge. The atrocities charged against him, and upon the best
possible evidence, are numerous and great.

The country we have passed through to-day is well studded with fine
trees, among which the mhowa abounds more than usual. The parasite
plant, called the bandha, or Indian mistletoe, ornaments the finest
mhowa and mango trees. It is said to be a disease, which appears as
the tree grows old, and destroys it if not cut away. The people, who
feel much regard for their trees, cut these parasite plants away; and
there is no prejudice against removing them among Hindoos, though
they dare not cut away a peepul-tree which is destroying their wells,
houses, temples, or tombs; nor do they, with some exceptions, dare to
destroy a wolf, though he may have eaten their own children, or
actually have one of them in his mouth. In all parts of India,
Hindoos have a notion that the family of a man who kills a wolf, or
even wounds it, goes soon to utter ruin; and so also the village
within the boundaries of which a wolf has been killed or wounded.
They have no objection to their being killed by other people away
from the villages; on the contrary, are very glad to have them so
destroyed, as long as their blood does not drop on their premises.
Some Rajpoot families in Oude, where so many children are devoured by
wolves, are getting over this prejudice. The bandha is very
ornamental to the fine mhowa and mango trees, to the branches of
which it hangs suspended in graceful festoons, with a great variety
of colours and tints, from deep scarlet and green to light-red and
yellow.

Wolves are numerous in the neighbourhood of Sultanpoor, and, indeed,
all along the banks of the Goomtee river, among the ravines that
intersect them; and a great many children are carried off by them
from towns, villages, and camps. It is exceedingly difficult to catch
them, and hardly any of the Hindoo population, save those of the very
lowest class who live a vagrant life, and bivouac in the jungles, or
in the suburbs of towns and villages, will attempt to catch or kill
them. All other Hindoos have a superstitious dread of destroying or
even injuring them; and a village community within the boundary of
whose lands a drop of wolf's blood has fallen believes itself doomed
to destruction. The class of little vag