CONSEQUENCES OF COERCION. 
357 
Frij, to find what the old man meant by coming at 
such an hour, when it appeared that he had brought 
us a taste of his beer. It seemed raw and spiritless, 
but as soon as the sun had risen, the old Sheikh gen- 
erously brought us a large jar full of the beverage. 
The country was populous : but in this month of 
February, though displaying pretty undulations or 
downs, dotted with shady tamarind and fig trees, and 
though the double-coned hills have wooded tops, all 
had a parched appearance. The brooks were dry. 
During several of our marches we met with no stream, 
and what water was obtained was procured by digging 
holes in the dry and rocky beds. Sometimes wild- 
fruits would refresh us, such as the fig ; it was the 
size of a strawberry pippin, and tasted excellent. The 
natives gathered quantities of the fruit of a Cucur 
bitacecB, the size and shape of a fowl's egg : its yellow 
rind was dried and eaten by them. Their grain they 
stored in separate houses from their dwellings, and 
built or placed them upon a few piles of wood or 
rough pillars of stone. On arrival in a village the 
Toorkee always made his way to these stores for the 
purpose of pillaging. On my desiring one of them to 
desist, he coolly laughed; but Bombay succeeded better 
with him. As soon as our caravan arrived at a village 
for the day, the Turks formed camp outside of it by re- 
moving the roofs of the houses, and making their owners 
carry them for them ! If resistance was shown, the butt- 
end of the musket was applied to the poor owner, or the 
muzzle of the gun was presented to his stomach. One 
consequence of this system of coercion and plunder was 
that, whenever the people of Madi or Bari had the oppor- 
tunity, they retaliated and stole from the Turks freely. 
