onvinced several
of the spectators that a murder had been committed, and two or three
soldiers rushed into the circle for the purpose of seizing the criminal.
Triumphantly smiling at the success of the cheat, he held them at bay
with the sword for a few minutes, when, to our great surprise, the child
bounded into the circle, unscathed, from amidst the crowd, though we had
kept our eyes attentively fixed on the basket all the time. Suspecting
that two children had been employed, I examined the basket, but found no
trace of an occupant, and saw nothing in its construction which could
have aided the deception. This clever trick was loudly applauded, and
brought its author a plentiful harvest of pice and cowries, while many
there were who went away with the firm conviction that it could only
have been effected through the agency of the devil himself.

We had left a number of sick behind us at Tattah, with instructions that
they should be conveyed in pattemars up the river Indus, and rejoin us
at Sehwan. A boat containing a corporal and five men was stranded on the
banks of the river, and was with some difficulty got off. The soldiers
were so prostrated with fever that they could scarcely move, and in
this state they arrived at Sehwan. To their great distress they found
that the army had proceeded on its route, and one of their companions
expired immediately after their arrival. The heat of the sun was
intolerable, and the corpse began to putrify. In vain they implored the
native boatmen to inter it or cast it in the river, but they preferred
running the risk of infection to touching the dead body of an infidel.
The corporal, who was well acquainted with the language of the country,
entreated some of the natives who crowded to the banks to remove the
body, but they remained deaf to his prayers. Resorting to a stratagem
which he thought would have the effect of removing their religious
scruples, he asserted that the deceased had died in the Mahommedan
faith, and commanded them on pain of the displeasure of the Prophet, to
give him decent interment. At first they looked incredulous, but the
corporal swore loud and fast, and they were at length convinced. They
removed the body, and placing it on a sort of bier, somewhat similar to
a sailor's hammock, carried it on shore. Having swathed it in cotton
cloths, and laid it with the feet towards the setting sun, they decked
the head and breast with flowers, and bore it in procession t