For his only excuse he told me, that it was a practice, derived from a long line of ancestors, wiser and better than they were; and that it prevailed in almost every Rajpoot family in the country; that they had, in consequence, become reconciled to it, and knew not how to do without it.

Family pride is the cause of this terrible evil! The estate of Kuteearee, on the left-hand side of the road towards the Ramgunga and Ganges, is held by Runjeet Sing, of the Kuteear Rajpoot clan.

His estate yields to him about one hundred and twenty thousand rupees a-year, while he is assessed at only sixteen thousand.

While Hakeem Mehndee was in banishment at Futtehgurh, about fifteen years ago, he became intimate with Runjeet Sing, of Kuteearee; and when he afterwards became minister, in 1837, he is said to have obtained for him the King's seal and signature to a perpetual lease at this rate, from which is deducted a _nankar_ of four thousand, leaving an actual demand of only twelve thousand.

Were such grants, in perpetuity, respected in Oude, the ministers and their minions would soon sell the whole of his Majesty's dominions, and leave him a beggar.