382 Note to Major-General Harpwicrr’s Account of the Sheep-Eater. 
« A few years since, there existed in Lucknow, in the person of a Musselman Faquir 
an extraordinary instance of voracious appetite, remarkably evincing how near, when 
unrestrained by civilization, the human appetite approaches to that of the brute. The 
“ man of whom I speak was a resident in the capital of Oude, and it was his peculiar 
custom, by a display of his edacious powers, to solicit at the expense of strangers the 
“ oratification of his appetite. From a particular friend of mine * he requested and 
“ obtained a fine sheep; seizing its two fore-legs, he drew the animal, suspended in the 
“ air, towards him, threw back its legs with all his strength, and laid the creature both 
‘* dead and open in an instant. His first care, on the sheep being thus exposed, was to 
“ cast away the entrails and drink the blood. To do this more effectually, he always 
buried his head in the animal’s body, and which custom, if it preserved any of the 
blood from being spilt, rendered his appearance horrible and disgusting, by coagulating 
** and matting his hair. He then with his hands and teeth (never employed a knife) tore 
off the skin, with the same instruments tore and devoured the flesh, and having nicely 
picked every bone, loudly petitioned for a second sheep. The disgust excited was 
however, too great to admit of a second performance, and the cannibal regretted that 
he had not received wherewithal to satisfy the importunate cravings of his maw. 
* Asoph-ud-Dowlah, the predecessor of Saadut Ali, and uncle to the present Nuwaub 
“ of Oude, bestowed a jagheer of the annual value of three thousand rupees, on this 
“ singular character. It was on a day of great festivity in Lucknow, after devour- 
ing three sheep successively, and losing three teeth in the encounter, that he was 
“ blessed with this munificence of his prince, as a reward for his prowess in the ars edendi. 
A squalid emaciated appearance was the characteristic of this Faquir; and with his 
diseased appetite, we may naturally infer, that the quantity of food proved an obstacle 
to its nourishing him.”—Page 160. 
The writer adds, that some of the descendants of this cannibal were still to be seen 
(1813-14) in Lucknow. 
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* “Claude Russel, Esq., one of the present Judges of the Court of Appeal and Circuit for the division of 
Benares.”” 
