144 SPORT IN BENGAL. 



creditor. Quite a mistake would this be in India. A gentle- 

 man, at considerable risk to himself, entered a burning house, 

 and rescued from certain death a Bengalee Brahmin, whom 

 he sent to the hospital for treatment of sundry burns, and 

 having maintained him there a week or two, dismissed him 

 cured to his home. Did that gentle Hindoo depart in peace, 

 grateful, and calling down blessings on the head of his 

 benefactor ? Not a bit of it. He first refused to stir till 

 " bukshish " was given, and his expenses paid for the journey 

 home ; then some money being offered, the pious and mild 

 creature became abusive, and rejected the proffered gift as 

 utterly insufficient. Being hustled out of the gentleman's 

 premises, the black Levite disappeared for a day or two, to 

 reappear and pester my friend in his daily rides ; and on 

 being called upon to name his terms, the Brahmin suggested 

 that having been rescued from a death to which he was 

 doomed, he who had intervened was bound to make provision 

 for him for the rest of his life, either by a pension or by gift 

 of an appointment of some kind sufficient for the maintenance 

 of himself and family. Now, my friend was one who dealt 

 more in the suaviter in modo than in the fortiter in re, 

 but even his extremely kind nature was roused to anger by 

 the man's impudence. Accordingly, I understand that re- 

 course was had to the " bamboo-bukshish " mentioned before, 

 which settled the matter to the complete satisfaction of all 

 parties concerned. 



A relative of the writer, an impulsive and inconsiderate 

 youth, had the audacity to save under similar circumstances 

 a decrepit old Hindoo woman, whose hovel was ablaze over 

 her head, and to place her in safety among the crowd, 

 not without sundry burns of his own person and clothing. 

 I was not present, but am given to understand and by my 

 own experience can fully believe that the torrent of foul 

 abuse heaped on the rescuer's unoffending head by the hag was 

 sufficient in power to turn a considerable water-mill. (Moral ; 

 it is better to let burn than to save, in Bengal at least.) The 

 strangest part of the incident is that no native newspaper, so 



