54 SPORTING IN BOTH HEMISPHERES. 



some remorse for all the murders and crimes they had com- 

 mitted, and a dread of their present awful position, they 

 replied that, on the contrary, they had done their duty as 

 good Phansigars, exactly as faithfully and well as he had per- 

 formed his as a Cutwall Sahib; that they well knew that 

 death was at all times impending, and whether it arrived by 

 natural means or otherwise was a matter of perfect in- 

 difference to them; indeed, if I could judge from the expres- 

 sion of their countenances, not only was there a total absence 

 of fear, remorse, or sorrow, but a sort of boastful conscious- 

 ness of their own merits, and an anticipation of future 

 reward for their meritorious acts in this life. 



The gallows upon which they were to expiate, or rather 

 celebrate their crimes, was erected on the banks of the then 

 dry bed of the Jaulnah river, between the cantonment and 

 native fort. It was very rudely constructed, and not more 

 than nine or ten feet high. Troops were inarched to the 

 spot to maintain order, and many thousands of natives were 

 assembled to witness the execution. 



The Phansigars themselves marched with a firm and steady 

 step to their death, singing a sort of triumphal hymn or slow 

 chant, and smoking their hubble-bubbles, or cocoa-nut water 

 pipes. When they arrived at the foot of the gallows, and 

 the first was ordered to ascend a short ladder and deliver 

 himself into the hands of the executioner, who was sitting 

 astride on the cross-beam, and waiting to adjust the noose, 

 he embraced his fellow-prisoners all round, took one last 

 whiff at his pipe, and gave it into the hands of the nearest 

 Phansigar, who, in his turn, acted in a precisely similar way, 

 until the whole ten were suspended side by side, and scarcely 

 a struggle was observed in one of the bodies. When, how- 

 ever, the last execution had taken place, an unexpected event 

 occurred, for which we were totally unprepared. Large 

 bodies of natives, that had been standing in the background, 



