INFANTICIDE. 
191 
this haughty race as to rend asunder, not only the 
common ties of humanity, but the links of natural af- 
fection. Before Mr. Duncan was appointed resident 
at Benares, now nearly fifty years ago, infanticide 
prevailed to a deplorable extent among certain Kaj- 
poot tribes residing in this extensive district; and 
every effort hitherto made by the British government 
to check a long-established and widely-spreading 
evil had entirely failed: the vigilance of the magis- 
tracy was baffled, and these murders were con- 
stantly taking place in defiance of the ties of pater- 
nity and the highest obligations of nature. By inde- 
fatigable assiduity, by conciliating the prejudices of 
a haughty and powerful people, and by adopting the 
most energetic measures, Mr. Duncan eventually suc- 
ceeded in greatly diminishing, though not in com- 
pletely eradicating, this evil in the province over 
which he presided. The moment the extent of his 
success became known, his benevolent example was 
followed by others in different parts of the country, 
with more opposition, indeed, and not certainly for 
the moment with equally signal success. Colonel 
Walker, then political resident at Broach, succeeded 
in a great measure in suppressing this unnatural 
practice through a large extent of territory. The diffi- 
culties which he encountered in realizing his laudable 
efforts to exterminate so odious a custom from among 
an influential and enlightened community, are scarcely 
to be conceived ; nevertheless those efforts were even- 
tually crowned with success. The Jarejahs, a tribe 
among whom infanticide was practised to a dreadful 
extent, account for its origin as follows. 
