danger. Fear seems to have deprived you of every faculty, or you might have spared the blood of your family, and if you did not scorn to owe your safety to deception, might have substituted some less noble victim. But the end of our race approaches."

'The traitor to manhood, his sovereign, and humanity, durst not reply. The brave Sangram is now dead, but the prophetic anathema has been fulfilled. Of ninety-five children, sons and daughters, but one son (the brother of Kishna) is left to the Ráná; and though his two remaining daughters have been recently married to the princes of Jaisalmír and Bikanír, the Salic law, which is in full force in these states, precludes all honour through female descent. His hopes rest solely on the prince, Jowan Singh, and though in the flower of youth and health, the marriage bed (albeit boasting no less than four young princesses) has been blessed with no progeny.1

The elder brother of Jowan died two years ago; had he lived he would have been Amra the Third. With regard to Ajít, the curse has been fully accomplished. Scarcely a month after his wife and two sons were numbered with the dead, and the hoary traitor has since been wandering from shrine to shrine, performing penance and alms in expiation of his sins, yet unable to fling from him ambition; and with his beads in one hand, "Ráma! Ráma!" ever on his tongue, and subdued passion in his looks, his heart is as deceitful as ever. Enough of him. Let us exclaim, with Sangrám, "Dust on his head," which all the waters of the Ganges could not purify from the blood of the virgin Kishna, but

'Rather would the multitudinous sea incarnadine.'

APPX.
C.

APPENDIX D.

THE following is an extract from the order of the Government of India, issued on the occasion of the death of the late Begum of Bhopal. After stating the profound regret with which the Government had received intelligence of the demise of that illustrious lady, the document went on to add: Her Highness had conducted the administration of this principality since the year 1847, when she was first appointed regent, with ability and

'Jowan Singh did succeed his father, but he died without natural issue.

APPX.
D.

APPX.

D.

success, until the day of her decease. In the early years of her rule she improved the system by which the revenue of the state is collected, abolished monopolies, regulated the mint, reorganised the police, and gradually increased the revenue, while she effectually diminished the public debt. In later times, by her support of the cause of male and female education, by her superintendence of works intended to supply her capital with pure and wholesome water, by the construction of serais and roads, and by other improvements, she gave convincing indications of real and abiding interest in the progress of her people and in the prosperity of her country.

But it was by her firm conduct during the great mutiny that she established a more direct title to the acknowledgments of the head of the administration.

'Her unswerving fidelity, her skill in the management of affairs at an important crisis, the bold front which she presented to the enemies of the British power, and the vigilance with which she watched over the preservation of Englishmen, were acknowledged by Lord Canning, in open durbar, in terms of well-deserved praise and commendation, and the gratitude of the British Government was further evinced by a grant of territory which its owner had justly forfeited for open rebellion, by a recognition of the right of succession according to the custom of the principality and the Mahomedan law, and by the bestowal of one of those titles which the Sovereign of Great Britain, as the fountain of honour, has instituted to reward good services performed in India either by the natives of the country, or by the British servants of the Crown.'

APPX.

E.

APPENDIX E.

I THINK that the following statement, showing the war material and fighting men at the disposal of the native chiefs of India, may not be uninteresting. It has been arranged in the order of States followed in the body of the book.

It will be seen that the native chiefs command collectively 5,252 guns, 9,390 trained artillerymen, 64,172 cavalry, and 241,063 foot soldiers. They are distributed as follows:

The appended list will show how these forces are distributed

among the more important States:

APPX.
E.

APPX.

F.

THE following graphic description of the Bhúmia class is taken from the Rájpútáná correspondence of the Pioneer' newspaper, dated Allahábád, November 24, 1874:

Some months ago I touched upon the subject of Bhúmia Thákurs and Bhúm holdings. Since then I have had access to a singularly clear report on the Bhúmia Thákurs of the Ajmír district, and I have more than once meditated giving you a précis of its contents. There seems to have been a considerable confusion of ideas upon the status and duties of this class, and no one seemed able to say what privileges they were entitled to enjoy, and what services they were pledged to render in return for their holdings. After the new order of things had been established, the Commissioner appointed a committee to sift the whole matter of their rights and duties. A very careful and interesting report was submitted by the committee, the report to which I alluded above, and on it the Commissioner framed his suggestions for the future regulation of our demands from the Bhúmia holders. The orders of the Supreme Government on his recommendations have lately been received. The proposals of the committee have been favourably entertained, and it now only remains to have them put into execution.

F.

Let me give you some idea of who the Bhúmia Thákurs APPX. in Ajmír are, and what their history has been. In certain parts of India there is an impression abroad that the holders of Bhúm lands are little more than village watchmen. However much support there may be for this belief as regards the Bhúmias of other provinces, there is no ground for its application to Rájpútáná. So far from being a tenure of low repute, it is much sought after even by the wealthy and well-born. So far from the Bhúmias being poor, ill-born, and despised, they are very often the most influential men in the village, riding their own cattle, owning their own herds and flocks, and playing second fiddle to no man. If this apparent prosperity be not sufficient to establish his gentle blood, there is another decisive test which admits of no doubt. Watch a district official receiving the magnates of the village, and you will see that while the patail puts forward the mean rupee in his extended palm, the Bhúmia Thákur presents his ancestral sword. No surer sign of gentle blood in this once warlike province. This, then, is the first fact to commit to memory, namely, that whatever the circumstances of their private affairs, our friends the Bhúmias are sprung from good stock, and are circled about by a certain dignity which is not to be extinguished even by the curse of poverty. Their tenure, moreover, is the only one which is not legally resumable by the Crown, except for disloyalty and rebellion. But in order to attain this perfect security of possession it is necessary that every grant should have obtained the sanction of the power ruling at the time of the grant. There are instances, notably in Mewár, after the general pacification in 1818, when the sovereign resumed lands granted in Bhúm, on the grounds that their grant had not met with his sanction. In point of fact, therefore, until the sanction of the ruling power has been accorded, no grant professing to be Bhúm is really Bhúm.

-

There are four kinds of Bhúm grants: 1. Bhúm granted for 'Mundkáti.' 2. That granted to quell a feud. 3. A gift bestowed for services in the field; and, 4, a grant from the Ráj to protect a border, or from a village to perform the duties of watch and ward. Lands surrendered on this tenure are held rent-free. Of the four kinds above-mentioned there are no examples of the first or second in the Ajmír district, and of the third there are only two authenticated instances. The