MEEK KHAN MAHOMED. 203 



one of whom lie knew must be the thief, 

 and after a preliminary ceremony to awaken 

 their superstitious fears, he said, '' Now go 

 into that room singly, and lay firmly hold 

 of the pin, the guilty party will stick to 

 it, the others need have no fears." The serv- 

 ants having gone in and returned, one at a 

 time, their hands were examined, and all but 

 one were found to smell strongly of asa- 

 foetida. That one was, of course, the thief; 

 as, knowing himself to be unobserved, he 

 had not touched the pin, for fear of sticking 

 to it, as he had been told he would, and his 

 house being searched, the stolen property was 

 found therein. 



I have before remarked on the supersti- 

 tions of the Sindhis ; and such superstition 

 is more especially remarkable in all relating 

 to the sick. I was called on one day to go 

 and see the Meer's youngest son, Meer Khan 

 Mahomed, who was suffering from an enor- 

 mous abscess in the abdomen, caused by his 

 horse falling and trampling on him. On 

 reaching the Deorle, one of the palaces, if 

 palaces they can be called, I found the 

 young man lying on a charpoy, around 



