OF THE OLD WOPwLD. 253 



holding a court-martial on the recusant Sawmy ; 

 to which we listened, keeping out of sight. The 

 Gooroo was gesticulating in an extraordinary man- 

 ner, and holding out somewhat in this style : — 

 " Soono, Bhai, (listen, brothers,) here we are all very 

 tired, with our feet broken, and our legs and arms 

 full of thorns with tramping for five days through 

 the jungle, and all to no purpose, for the elephants — 

 may their fathers be burnt ! — were not to be found, 

 and we had to come back, ' with blackened faces,' 

 before the gentleman and ' eat dirt,' (literally, get 

 abused.) Is not this vile conduct on the part of 

 that monkey-faced Sawmy, to whom we went to 

 the expense of offering sacrifices of sheep and cocks ? 

 Are we to suffer him to laugh at us in our trouble, 

 and throw dirt on our beards in this manner ? No, 

 brothers, we will pay him out. Heigh ! Ali Beg, 

 you are a Mussulman, and do not fear the evil eye 

 of a Hindoo Sawmy, so take the cursed son of 

 burnt fathers and defiled mothers who has dared to 

 bring all this evil upon us, cast dirt upon our 

 beards, and make the master turn his face away 

 from us, break off his nose and ears, put out his 

 eyes so that he can never find his way back, and 

 fling him into the lake." Tlie whole gang highly 

 approved of this sentence, and amidst the hootings, 

 groans, and expletive execrations of the party, the 

 image was dug up from the spot where it had per- 

 haps rested for centuries, and after having been 

 mutilated by Ali Beg, and subjected to the vilest 



