,881 0 0
___ _______________

388 . . 1,10,992 0 0
___ _______________

"These heads of families have each a fort, surrounded by a strong
fence of bamboos, and mounted with good guns; and the King cannot get
so large a revenue from them as he did thirty years ago, in the time
of Hakeem Mehndee, though their lands are as well tilled now as they
were then, and yield more rent to their holders. They spend it all in
keeping up large armed bands to resist the Government; but they
certainly take care of their cultivators and tenants of all kinds,
and no man dares molest them.

"But," said Bukhtawur Sing, "this beautiful scene would all be
changed were they encouraged or permitted to contend with each other
for the possession of the lands. I yesterday saw a great number of
the merchants of Kymara following the Resident's camp; and, on asking
them why, they told me that the order from Court obtained by Gholam
Ruza for you (the Nazim) to assist the Oel chief, Anrod Sing, in
despoiling Rajah Ajub Sing of his estate, had driven out all who had
no fields of corn or other local ties to detain them, and had
anything to lose by remaining. The chief and his retainers were
repairing their fort, and preparing to fight for their possessions to
the last; and if you take your disorderly force against them
according to orders, the crops now in the ground will be all
destroyed, and the numerous fields now prepared to receive sugar-cane
and the autumn seed will be left waste: they will make reprisals upon
Oel; others of their clan will join in the strife; and this district
will be what that of Bharwara, which we have just left, now is. The
merchants are in the right, sir, to make off: no property in such a
scene is ever safe. There is no property, sir, like that in the
Honourable Company's paper: it is the only property that we can enjoy
in peace. You feel no anxiety about it. It doubles itself in fifteen
or sixteen years; and you go on from generation to generation
enjoying your five per cent., and neither fearing nor annoying
anybody."

The two villages of Oel and Dhukwa adjoin each other, and form a
large town; but the dwelling-houses have a wretched appearance,
consisting of naked mud walls, with but a few more grass-choppers
than are usually found upon them in Oude towns. There is a good-
looking temple, dedicated to Mahadeo, in