429 



The collector of the customs was a Hindoo of family, wealth, 

 and credit. Lulled into security from his interest at court, and 

 suspecting no evil, he was surprised by a visit from the vizier, with 

 a company of armed men, to demand his money; which being 

 secreted, no threatenings could induce him to discover. A variety 

 of tortures were inflicted to extort a confession ; one was a sofa, 

 with a platform of tight cordage in net-work, covered with a chintz 

 palampore, which concealed a bed of thorns placed under it: 

 the collector, a corpulent banian, was then stripped of his jama, 

 or muslin robe, and ordered lo lie down on the couch: the cords 

 bending with his weight, sunk on the bed of thorns; those long and 

 piercing thorns of the baubul or forest acacia, which being placed 

 purposely with their points upwards, lacerated the wretched man, 

 whether in motion or at rest. For two days and nights he bore the 

 torture without revealing the secret; his tormentors fearing he 

 would die before their purpose was effected, had recourse to ano- 

 ther mode of compulsion. When nature was nearly exhausted, 

 they took him from the bed, and supported him on the floor, until 

 his infant son, an only child, was brought into the room; and 

 with him a bag containing a tierce cat, into which they put the 

 child, and lied up the mouth of the sack. The agents of cruelty 

 stood over them with bamboos, ready at a signal to beat the bao-, 

 and enrage the animal to destroy the child: this was too much for 

 a father's heart! he produced his treasure, and on his recovery 

 was sent for to court, invested with a sirpaw, or robe of state, 

 and exalted to a high situation in another province; there to ac- 

 cumulate more wealth, and, at a future period, be again subject 

 to the capricious fiat of a needy despot. 



