bazaar rates, of which a copy was sent to me monthly, proved he was "trying it on," so I fined him a rupee, and Inait rejoiced greatly.. When leaving India I asked the little man how much money he had in hand? "Rs. 120, Sahib." "What!" said I, "is that all you have saved, you extravagant young rascal, in ten years!" Whereupon he explained to me that his father, a camel sowar in the Collector's service, had had the misfortune to lose his camel, and been obliged to pay Rs. 350 towards the fund for replacing it. As a dutiful son he had helped. Any money I gave him would have gone the same way, so, instead of cash, I gave him my photographic kit, the use of which he understands thoroughly, and no one in search of a good bearer need go seek for Inait Khan, as his days of service are ended. MAGIC. "Your vessels and your spells provide Macbeth. Courts of Law and an active police organization are, doubtless, very usefulnay, indispensable-to the ends of justice, but to the victim of what I may term the common garden thief, immediate detection of the criminal, without having recourse to bobby, bench, or bar, is often of the greatest blessing. Such an one I would strongly advise to send his bearer for the nearest sorcerer, magician-wise man-give him what name you please, and set him to work to discover the thief. I was very much amused watching the proceedings of one of these magicians. He first secured the use of an empty mud hut in the Compound, and after obtaining some fire and an empty ghurrah (an earthen vessel T used for carrying water) he shut himself up and proceeded to his incantations. At the end of half-an-hour he emerged and requested all the servants to be seated in a semi-circle round the door, then, beginning with the nearest, he bade him enter the darkened hut and strike three times with open hands on the ghurrah, which was just visible. Seven men passed the ordeal safely, but the eighth was seized on and denounced as the thief. The miserable man dropped on his knees, and, confessing his crime, pointed out where he had hidden the money. The trick was a simple one whilst busy with his incantations, the sorcerer had found time to carefully blacken the ghurrah. Those whose consciences were sound did as he bade them, and returned with hands wellblackened; the culprit, not knowing what horror the three blows might lead to, had carefully refrained from touching the object indicated, and had consequently reappeared with clean hands. "I never had to do with wicked spirits: Because you want the grace that others have, Another method of detecting the criminal is still more simple. Having made all the servants squat around him in a circle, the sorcerer placed in each of their hands a small quantity of crushed grain, which, at a given signal, they were required to put into their mouths and swallow. A more amusing spectacle than the thirty men all chewing for bare life can scarcely be imagined. One by one the jaws ceased to work, as man after man completed the allotted task. But alas for one unfortunate Bhisti! With eyes well-nigh starting out of his head, and fists tightly clenched, he chewed and chewed, but apparently "got no furruder," and began to emit sounds like a half-throttled pig. Here was the thief, and he himself (after being allowed to remove the dry cake from his mouth) admitted his guilt, and showed where he had concealed the missing article! Now how had this detection been brought about? Simply by applying a bit of knowledge which any medical man can vouch for the correctness of, namely, that the nervous condition of a man has a very marked effect upon the salivary glands. The guilty one, especially if he be a native of India, will be in a highly nervous state, and the effect of his fears will be to seal up his salivary glands, and to well-nigh choke him in his attempts to reduce the grain to pulp. Of course the sorcerer must not repeat the same tricks too often in a neighbourhood, and must show no little cleverness in devising new methods for surprising guilty consciences. |