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naked. He looked like a man more than fifty years old; his chest was largely covered with hair; he had spectacles on; and his hair was mottled grey. Raising his head and taking off his spectacles, he looked at Govinda and said "Well, Sámanta, what's the news? I am sorry to hear that your big cottage was burnt last night. Has the whole of it been burnt, or only a part of it?"

Govinda. "The whole, Poddár mahásaya. Not a bit is remaining. It is all ashes."

Golaka.

deed?"

"Who could have done such a wicked

"What shall I say, sir?

Govinda. The poor are always oppressed. My uncle saw Bhima Koṭál running away towards the mango-grove in the company of another man, immediately after the fire had taken effect."

Golaka. "Bhima Koṭál! the Phánḍidár of it?"

and did you inform.

Govinda. "Yes, Uncle did. But you know very well, the Phánḍidár is in the palm of the jamidár's hand. The jamidár's people came and gave witness that Bhime was that night and two days before in his father-in-law's village five miles distant; so the case was hushed up, and no report of it was sent to the Dárogá of Mantresvar. Poor people never get justice."

Golaka. "Aye! aye! So it is, Sámanta. It is a wicked world. I have seen enough in my day That is one reason, Sámanta, why I have taken no lands for cultivation; I do not wish to come in contact with any jamidár.'

دو

Govinda. "You, sir, can afford not to rent land, as you have plenty of gold and silver.

But

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punishing the

But the hut

Govinda. "Nothing, so far as

burner of the house is concerned.

You are

must be thatched again. And who is to befriend me on this occasion except yourself? really my annadátá-the giver of rice."

66

Golaká. Sámanta! You already owe me a considerable sum of money, and though I never have had recourse to the law-courts for recovering my money in any case, yet you must pay back the money to me soon. How can you afford to borrow more money?"

Govinda. "But if I don't borrow, how can I get on? Shall my wife and children sleep at night in the open air? If you don't give me money the house cannot be built."

Golaka. "Well, let me see; how much do you want?"

do."

Govinda.

"Less than sixty tákás will not

Golaka. "Sixty tákás! What do you want such a large sum for? The walls must be all there, the flooring is there, and perhaps some of the posts; and you must have plenty of straw in your pálai; and then, near the tank, you have some clumps of bamboo. Thirty tákás will, I think, be quite sufficient."

Govinda. "Not one cowrie less than sixty tákás. All the posts have been reduced to ashes; the straw in the pálai is barely sufficient for the cows and bullocks; and as for the clumps of bamboos near the tank, there is not in them one single bamboo

fit for building purposes, they are all young and unseasoned." Golaka. "I can give you the money, certainly; but what I am thinking of is that the interest of the former debt, added to the interest of the present debt, will make a large sum and press heavily on you. You must, of course, pay interest at the rate of two payasá per táká a month.”

Govinda. "Of course, the interest will be heavy. But there is no medicine for this disease: I must somehow bear it."

Golaka Poddár brought out a piece of paper, wrote on it a regular receipt, which was signed by Govinda as well as by two workmen as witnesses. The silver was then counted out.

On receiving the money Govinda and Kálamánik immediately set to work. Palm trees were bought and cut; bamboos were brought from a village several miles distant, were slit, and turned into bákháris. In these and other operations Govinda and Kálamánik were materially assisted by Nanda the blacksmith, and Kapila the carpenter; the former doing gratuitously all the necessary iron-work in the shape of nails, hooks, &c., and the latter preparing the palmyra posts, the beams, and rafters.

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Pass where we may, through city or through town,
Village, or hamlet, of this merry land,
Though lean and beggared, every twentieth pace
Conducts the unguarded nose to such a whiff
Of stale debauch, forth issuing from the styes
That law has licensed, as makes Temperance reel.

Cowper.

SOME days after Govinda's big hut had been reduced to ashes, Babu Jaya Chánd Raya Chaudhuri was sitting in his Cutcherry, or rather half sitting, half lying down, his elbows resting on a huge bolster, and smoking, by means of one of those monstrous pipes called snakes, "which extended long and large, lay floating many a rood;" when Jaya Chánd was sitting in this interesting position, surrounded by the pomp and circumstance of landlordism, by his divána, his gomasta, and mohurirs; Bhima Sardár, the captain of his clubmen, stood in front of the room, and made a profound bow. Jaya Chánd raised his head a little, took off the snake from his mouth, and said, "Well, Bhima Sardár, what's the news?"

Bhim. "Maháráj! everything is right. In Mahárája's dominions nothing can go wrong."

Jaya. "You managed the thing rather neatly, the other night. But you were almost caught, and if the fellow had once seized you, it would have been

all over with you; for the rascal is not only as black but as strong as Yama."

Bhim. "That fellow catch me! Maháráj, by your blessing I have strength enough to fight alone and unaided with half-a-dozen fellows like him."

Jaya. "Ah, well, I don't know about that; you are exaggerating your strength. That fellow must be stronger than you. If you are Bhim, he is Arjjuna. However, you did your work successfully. You deserve some bakshish (reward)."

Bhim. "Maháráj! everything I have is your lordship's. In your lordship I live and eat and drink. What more could I expect?"

Jaya Chánd ordered the treasurer to give to Bhim Sardár two rupees. As the treasurer threw the rupees on the floor, the zamindár said to the Sardár, "Take that táká, and enjoy yourself with your companions." The Sardár made another profound bow, repeating the words, "Ráma, Ráma! Maháráj," and went away.

Leaving Jaya Chánd and his ministers to their confabulations, with the reader's permission, we will accompany the Sardár and see how he and his friends enjoy themselves. He, along with about a dozen of his companions, went to a grocer's shop and bought some quantities of muḍi, muḍki, bátás, phuṭ-kalái, and páțáli, and went towards the tank Krishna Ságara, below the high embankment of which lay the only grog-shop in the village.

I suppose there were grog-shops in the country before its occupation by the British, but there is no doubt that the increase of drunkenness in the land is chiefly owing to the operation of the Ábkári system of the Government. That three thousand

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