CHAPTER III.
Lonee Sing, of the Ahbun Rajpoot tribe--Dispute between Rajah Bukhtawar Sing, and a servant of one of his relatives--Cultivation along the border of the Tarae forest--Subdivision of land among the Ahbun families--Rapacity of the king's troops, and establishments of all kinds--Climate near the Tarae--Goitres--Not one-tenth of the cultivable lands cultivated, nor one-tenth of the villages peopled-- Criterion of good tillage--Ratoon crops--Manure available--Khyrabad district better peopled and cultivated than that of Mahomdee, but the soil over-cropped--Blight--Rajah Ajeet Sing and his estate of Khymara--Ousted by collusion and bribery--Anrod Sing of Oel, and Lonee Sing--State of Oude forty years ago compared with its present state--The Nazim of the Khyrabad district--Trespasses of his followers--Oel Dhukooa--_Khalsa_ lands absorbed by the Rajpoot barons--Salarpoor--Sheobuksh Sing of Kuteysura--_Bhulmunsee_, or property-tax--Beautiful groves of Lahurpoor--Residence of the Nazim-- Wretched state of the force with the Nazim--Gratuities paid by officers in charge of districts, whether in contract or trust--Rajah Arjun Sing's estate of Dhorehra--Hereditary gang-robbers of the Oude Tarae suppressed--Mutiny of two of the King's regiments at Bhitolee-- Their rapacity and oppression--Singers and fiddlers who govern the King--Why the Amils take all their troops with them when they move-- Seetapoor, the cantonment of one of the two regiments of Oude Local Infantry--Sipahees not equal to those in Magness's, Barlow's, and Bunbury's, or in our native regiments of the line--Why--The prince Momtaz-od Dowlah--Evil effects of shooting monkeys--Doolaree, _alias_ Mulika Zumanee--Her history, and that of her son and daughter..