gladdened with the prospect of permanent security, and so fraught with multitudinous collateral benefits,-the realization of all other legitimate objects could not fail gradually to follow in its train.

Having thus unfolded, as fully as our limits can well admit of, the general scheme of operation proposed by Captain Macpherson, both in its guiding principles and leading details, we must return to our narrative.

After returning from his expedition into the south western and previously unvisited Khond districts,-shattered in health, but richly laden with new information and experience-the agent proceeded to the Eastern districts of Goomsur, now become a British province, to examine into the state of affairs in that quarter. The four Hill districts of this province occupied by Khonds are Bara Mútah, Athara Mútah, Hodzoghoro, and Chokapad. As regards the general civil order and tranquillity of these tracts of country he was enabled to report favourably. When the province became British, public peace had been maintained. The happy result was, a great diminution of the amount of bloodshed; contests had been on a small scale; and the murderous axe had been rarely used. Numerous decisions of questions of disputed right had been passed by the local authority. These had taken effect, for the most part from the weight of our authority, and from their justice aloneno agency having been employed to execute them, but that of Sam Bisaye, the principal Khond Chief. But when justice was thus, in any instance, administered, it was simply for its own sake, and by way of accomplishing what was in itself an important end, without any direct or immediate reference to the attainment of other ulterior and equally important ends, such as the abolition of the Meriah sacrifice. The consequence was, that, as regarded the extinction of this sanguinary rite, little or no real progress had been made, though for six years the Khonds had been British subjects, and various efforts had been made by Government authorities towards its suppression. Major Campbell, after ascending the Ghats in January 1841, to ascertain the state of things, was obliged to report, that matters appeared rather to assume a retrogressive aspect-that "the intention to continue the sacrifice of human victims existed with undiminished force"-that " persuasion and remonstrance had not had the anticipated effect and that unless more decided measures were adopted, the Meriah sacrifice would not cease, though it might not be performed openly."

* See Calcutta Review, No. XII. p. 72.

What these "more decided measures" were meant to be, we may safely infer from an expression employed two years before by the same gentleman. In his Report of January 1839, he says, "the more I see of the Khonds the more is my opinion confirmed, that, unless we address ourselves to their fears, as well as to their better feelings, our steps for the suppression of the Meriah Pujah will be slow indeed."* Captain Miller had previously declared, that, in the rescue of human victims, "force and intimidation were the means that he employed." And, subsequently, Colonel Ousely, with the blunt energy of a soldier, fearlessly declared his conviction that the "only argument" which the Khonds "could understand," was that which would be " supported by force; " while Mr. Mills, the Commissioner of Cuttack, gave vent to his own impression of the apparently insuperable difficulties, by putting on record the memorable deliverance, viz. "CONCILIATORY MEANS ALONE WILL NOT EFFECT THE SUPPRESSION OF THE RITE. FORCE MUST PRECEDE CONCILIATION."§ Seeing, then, that neither the argument of force had been applied, on the one hand, nor the argument of clearly appreciated and permanently guaranteed benefits on the other, we need scarcely be surprized at Major Campbell's report, that the "intention to continue the sacrifice of human victims existed with undiminished force."

Such was believed, by Major Campbell and others, to be the state of feeling among the Khonds of Goomsur, at the time when Captain Macpherson returned from his expedition to the South Western districts-a state of feeling, the existence of which the searching inquiries of the latter soon tended to place beyond the possibility of a doubt. In his report, dated 15th August, 1842, Captain Macpherson thus writes:

"The Khonds of the tracts of Bara Mútah and Athara Mútah state, that after the Goomsur war in 1836, they believed that the Government was determined to suppress the sacrifice. In the beginning of 1838, they gave a formal pledge to discontinue the rite, but not of their free will, or believing the practice to be in any degree exceptionable in reason or in justice, but in compliance with the orders of the Government as represented to them, with the consequences of refusal, by Sam Bisaye of Hodzoghoro, then lately set over them. This pledge they never regarded as in any degree binding, and they never observed it, while it was not observed by Sam Bisaye. But the rite was discontinued within their limits to a great extent from the fear of punishment, although it was still occasionally performed in public, and frequently in private. Finding that no punishment followed its practice, and seeing it freely performed in the adjoining district of Sam Bisaye, it has been gradually resumed with all the old

*See Calcutta Review, No. XII. p. 71. See Calcutta Review, No. XII. p. 92.

+ See Calrutta Review, No. XII. p. 58. § See Calcutta Review, No. XII. p. 88.

forms. And this year it has been performed every where and for the most part publicly, with little or no apprehension of consequences. Fourteen or fifteen public sacrifices have been offered in the three districts of Athara Mútah, Bara Mútah, and Hodzoghoro, and large preparations are now making for future offerings.

Whether or not the whole number of Khond offerings was diminished during the period in which the sacrifice was partly suppressed, and partly converted into a secret rite, in these districts, it is difficult to determine. I have been able to discover no Khond resident in them who professes to have, in any year, actually gone without the flesh for his land. And the few non-sacrificing Khonds of the border, whom I have had an opportunity to question, and who abstain from the water of land that has been polluted with human blood within the year, assure me that there was no where, in those tracts, any interval of purity."

Another fact, of the utmost importance as regards the understanding of the future consequences of events, brought to light, at the same time, by Captain Macpherson, was, that "Sam Bisaye, his family, and Hindu dependents in Hodzoghoro, were regarded by the Khonds, and, in point of fact, were, the great supporters of the rite." By referring to the ninth number of this work, page 37, it will be seen what the title "Bisaye" indicated. It was conferred on the great chief who stood in the twofold relation of "federal Patriarch of a cluster of Khond tribes," and "Agent for Khond affairs" to the neighbouring Zemindar-Rajah. At the time of the outbreak of the Goomsur war, Dora Bisaye was the person who held this twofold office, in connection with the Zemindar-Rajah and Hill Khond tribes of Goomsur. Being a rebel, his office was forfeited, and himself ultimately sentenced to perpetual imprisonment. At the commencement of the war, Sam Bisaye was simply chief of one of the Khond tribes, occupying the district of Hodzoghoro. During the first year of the war his conduct proved treacherous in the highest degree.* But having behaved better, and, indeed, having rendered some important services during the second year of the war, he was, by way of recompense, though not without strong misgiving on the part of Mr. Russel, invested with the office of the late Dora Bisaye, and duly constituted, with much pomp and ceremonial, head of all the Khond tribes of Goomsur. In reporting this fact to his Government in May 1837, Mr. Russel said, "It may perhaps be thought that the conduct of this man, during the first part of the late insurrection, attaches too much suspicion to his character, to justify the confidence now reposed in him;" and then goes on to shew, that in the very peculiar state of things, a better choice could not, on the

* See Calcutta Review, No. 1X. p. 16-17.

whole, be more expediently made. Captain Macpherson, however, now found himself obliged, as the result of his inquiries, to report that this powerful chief had, times and ways without number, abused the confidence which had been so generously and undeservedly placed in him.

As already stated, he was entrusted by the local British authority with the execution of their judicial decisions. In implementing this responsible trust, he was charged by all the Khonds, with "having taken bribes, when it was possible, from every party to every dispute." And when spoken to on the subject, by Captain Macpherson, not as a matter of grave charge, but as a matter of universal notoriety, he simply and coolly replied, that "it was necessary that he should do so, for the support of his family." While lending himself to injustice generally, whenever he could hope to profit by it, he, on one occasion, went so far as to bring the country under his superintendence to the brink of a ruinous conflict, for the trifling bribe of a pair of pistols, which a Patriarch had come by in the Goomsur war, and which Sam Bisaye had long coveted!

With respect to the Meriah sacrifice, his conduct was alike base and treacherous. To the generosity of the British Government he owed his exalted situation, dignities and privileges, wealth and power. Well did he know how much that Government had at heart the abolition of the cruel Meriah rite. He had solemnly engaged to assist it in the carrying out of all its wishes and ameliorative plans. And yet, in spite of his obligations and his promises, he was found to be the chief obstruction to its benevolent designs. The facts being too notorious for denial, he admitted to Captain Macphersom, without any hesitation or difficulty, that "three public sacrifices had lately taken place, with his sanction, in Hodzoghoro;" while his son avowed that "at some of these he had himself taken the first part." He admitted, that in his own country, there were at least thirty intended victims in confinement; while he was convicted by the evidence of the whole Khond population, of exacting a present to permit each sacrifice." Indeed, so glaring was the notoriety of this fact, that, when personally brought home to him, "he did not attempt to deny the general truth of this heavy and grievous charge." After such disclosures we need scarcely wonder at the following entry in Captain Macpherson's official report:

Having grown old as the hereditary Hindu minister of the gods of Hodzoghoro, and as the Bisaye or manager of its affairs with the zemindars and with other tribes, and thence being mixed up with all its obligations and feuds, and having, necessarily, no ideas of public or private justice

but those of the Khonds, or those of the tyrannies of the Hill Rajahs,-I do not think that there were grounds for expecting, that when placed in his present position, removed from observation and from all immediate checks, he would be found a willing or a sincere agent for the overthrow of the Khond superstition, or a faithful minister of a better system of justice. And, in fact, his superstition, his cupidity, and his extreme obstinacy of temper, naturally acquiring strength with age, now present important obstacles to the attainment of our objects."

Such was the unpromising and uninviting aspect of Khond affairs when Captain Macpherson commenced his labours as Agent, with very circumscribed authority, in the Hill country of Goomsur. But, strong in his conviction of the rectitude of his own intentions and the benevolence of his own motives, and upborne by an undoubting faith in the general adaptation and efficacy of his well digested and long matured plans,-he resolved, with cheerfulness and alacrity, to attempt all which his very limited powers would allow.

The administration of justice, in accordance generally with Khond ideas and usages, and with a distinct view to the establishment of authority and the ultimate abolition of the Meriah sacrifice, being the grand central and vital doctrine of his system, he did not wait till cases of disputed rights presented themselves for settlement. He invited, and, in every lawful way, encouraged the bringing of such cases to him at once for adjustment, whenever they might arise. Accordingly he soon found himself thoroughly engrossed with the duties of his assumed office as umpire. Causes flowed in upon him; and to their equitable settlement he gave himself with indefatigable energy and untiring perseverance. Nor did he labour in vain. He soon had the unspeakable consolation of witnessing the fruit of his labours, in the general satisfaction which his decisions gave, and the general confidence, which, in consequence, he succeeded in inspiring in the naturally suspicious and obdurate breasts of the Khonds. Of his method of procedure he furnishes us with one specimen in detail; and as it will help to convey a better idea of the state of feeling among the Khonds, and his way of consulting it without injurious compromise, we may here quote the entire statement:

"Major Campbell, in the beginning of this year, settled by an amicable arrangement, confirmed by a solemn promise, a dispute betwixt two branches of the Cretingia tribe, in the course of which two men had already fallen upon either side. The heads of one of these branches, however, named Lando Mullik and Comti Mullik, immediately afterwards gained Sam Bisaye by presents, and determined to renew the contest. The people of Athara Mútah were nearly equally divided as the allies of the contending parties who are of a non-sacrificing tribe from the South. Sam Bisaye now sent messengers to the tribes which were opposed to his friends, threatening them with the vengeance of the Government if they

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