384; LIEUT.-COL. D." C. PHILLOTT : 



father ! Alas my poor father ! ' l Every passer-by will certainly contribute something.*^ 

 The companions acted as instructed, and in no long time a good sum of money was col- 

 lected. By chance a Government official happened to be passing by. Looking atten- 

 tively he heard 2 the dead man in the bier demanding an account and saying to his 

 comrades, "Oh, you sons of dogs! How much have you collected?" The official 

 said to himself, " Oh earners of iniquity ! 3 No man am I if I do not put you alive into 

 the grave." He then came opposite the bier and said, " I am appointed by the Govern- 

 ment to wash, shroud and bury with my own hands every stranger that happens to die 

 here." Then turning to his men he said, " Boys ! take the bier on your shoulders." 

 To the entreaties and supplications of Scald-head and Opium-smoker, who repre- 

 sented that they had collected sufficient money and would themselves bury the body, 

 and who besought him not to trouble himself, the official turned a deaf ear. He had 

 the bier lifted and carried to the dead-house* and there he dismissed his men. He then 

 took out the corpse and laid it on the washing plank. While washing it he gave it 

 several blows on the ribs with his fist : " Bastard ! " 5 said he, " what sort of a corpse are 

 you, asking an account ? " Thump him as he would the corpse put up with it all, and 

 uttered not a sound. Scald-head and Opium-smoker now arrived and came to the 

 door of the washing-house, entreating and supplicating him saying, " Oh sir ! What art 

 thou doing with our dead ? We will ourselves attend to his obsequies." The official 

 turned round to shut the door on them, when Thin-beard, seeing his back turned, 

 stretched out a hand, seized a handful of the halva, 6 crammed it in his mouth and 

 gulped it down. The official seeing the corpse had eaten some halva exclaimed, " All 

 right, you spawn of Satan ! I know how to deal with you." He then seized him and 

 ducked him in the tank in which the corpses are washed. Thin-beard took the oppor- 

 tunity to swallow a mouthful or two of water, 7 and again gave himself up to shamming 

 dead. The official saw that things were difficult. He seized him, struck him, kicked 

 him in the ribs, exclaiming, " Son of a wanton mother ! 8 A rare corpse are you ! I know 

 you ate the halva, and swallowed some water." By this time it had become dark, and the 

 official having dismissed all his attendants is at a loss what to do. Suddenly he hears, 

 the whis whis of whispering outside. 9 He gave ear and heard some one say, " Let us, 

 go in£o the dead-house : it is quiet there and we can there divide our loot without inter- 

 ruption." It became clear that they were a band of robbers 10 that had attacked and 

 robbed a caravan. In feir of his life, the Government official dashed into the bier and 



1 Mazliim does not mean " ill-used " : in asp mnzlum ast (m.c ) '' this horse is quiet.'' 



5 Did "' saw." 



3 Harinn l-uqma or haram tilsha or hardm khwdr according to some means, " one who subsists by unlawful means " : accord- 

 ing to others, " one to whom it is unlawful to give food " j a third interpretation is. " one born of a father who earns his living by 

 unlawful means " 



* Murda-khiina vulg. for ghassiil-khdna. _-i z. -. '. -'.'-?. 3-""- ■-■ 



6 " Son of an impotent father" and hence " bastard.'' 



• Vide page 402, note 7. 



1 Halva produces thirst. ■"'- .'■'.-.'. * 



8 The implication being that he is not the son of his father. • •- 



9 i.e., outside the wall of the dead-house. 



10 The robbers would be a band of villagers or city-folk who, by day, would be engaged in peaceful occupations ■ : - ; 



