have not the fear of God stronger in their hearts than the
love of the world and its vanities;--the really religious people
discountenance the whole system and pretended art of the astrologer.

It is wonderful the influence a Najoom acquires in the houses of many
great men in India;--wherever one of these idlers is entertained he is the
oracle to be consulted on all occasions, whether the required solution be
of the utmost importance, or the merest trifling subject. I know those who
submit, with a childlike docility, to the Najoom's opinion, when their
better reason, if allowed to sway, would decide against the astrologer's
prediction. If Najoom says it is not proper for Nuwaub Sahib, or his Begum,
to eat, to drink, to sleep, to take medicine, to go from home, to give
away or accept a gift, or any other action which human reason is the best
guide to decide upon, Najoom has said it,--and Najoom must be right.
Najoom can make peace or war, in the family he overrules, at his pleasure;
and many are the houses divided against themselves by the wicked influence
of a bad man, thus exercising his crafty wiles over the weakness of his
credulous master.--So much for Najoomee; and now for my second notice of
the Eunuchs:--[10]

They are in great request among the highest order of people, and from
their long sojourn in a family, this class of beings are generally
faithfully attached to the interest and welfare of their employer; they
are much in the confidence of their master and mistress, and very seldom
betray their trust. Being frequently purchased, whilst children, from the
base wretches who have stolen them in infancy from the parental roof, they
often grow up to a good old age with the family by whom they are adopted;
they enjoy many privileges denied to other classes of slaves;--are
admitted at all hours and seasons to the zeenahnahs; and often, by the
liberality of their patrons, become rich and honourable;--still 'he is but
a slave', and when he dies, his property reverts to his owner.

In Oude there have been many instances of Eunuchs arriving to great honour,
distinctions, and vast possessions. Al Mauss Ali Khaun[11] was of the
number, within the recollection of many who survive him; he was the
favoured Eunuch of the House of Oude; a person of great attainments, and
gifted with a remarkably superior mind, he was appointed Collector over an
immense tract of country, by the then reigning Nuwaub, whose councils he
benefit