eatly predominated. The adventurers purchase a certain extent of
ground, say ten or twelve feet square, for which they pay from a hundred
to a thousand rupees, which depends entirely on the situation. Terms
having been agreed upon, they then dig, sift, and wash, and if they find
any diamonds under a certain value, they are their own; if above (I
think ten thousand rupees is the amount stipulated), they are the
property of the rajah. Few of very high value are found; but,
notwithstanding this, the speculators are well watched during the whole
of their sifting and washing. A good deal of gold, silver, copper, and
iron is also found in this part of the country, and there can be no
doubt that the rajah is a rich man; though, notwithstanding his
treasures, he must be devoid of happiness, as the following incident of
his life will prove.

Some three years before the time that the division of the army to which
I belonged passed through this district, the rajah had married a most
beautiful woman, the daughter of a neighbouring rajah, making his third
wife. This woman, of all his wives and concubines, he most loved, if
such a tyrant can be supposed to be susceptible of such a feeling. In
his court he had promoted a young man (his barber) from an indigent
sphere to be his chief confidant. This confidant became his greatest
favourite, and, indeed, ruler. Nothing could be done but through his
interest. Thus things went on for some time, when the rajah was invited
some hundreds of miles to an annual festival, which invitation he
accepted. The times were turbulent, for the Pindarees were then roving
about in large bodies; but, notwithstanding all this, the rajah imagined
he could safely leave his confidant in charge of his family and his
people. Having made this arrangement, he started on his journey,
reposing the most implicit trust in the firmness and integrity of the
new minister--for so he was denominated. Scarcely had one week elapsed,
when the fiend, who was thus trusted, cast his sensual eye on the object
of his master's best love; but he found her virtuous as she was
beautiful. He protested his most ardent love, and that he could not
exist without her honeyed smiles; that she was everything that could
promote his happiness or destroy his life. He entreated, he conjured;
but all were as words cast upon the wintry blast: she was firm, and
threatened to expose his infamy to the rajah. Thus menaced, his crime
seemed to stagger hi