rupees. One of the eight villages, held by the Canoongoes, named Aboo
Surae, Ghalib Jung, alias Dursun Sing, another Court favourite, is
now trying to take by violence, for himself, following the practice
of his namesake. He has possessed himself of many by the same means,
keeping the troops he commands upon them at exercise and target-
practice, till he drives both cultivators and proprietors out, or
shoots them.

This Rajah, Ghalib Jung, is now a great favourite with the minister,
and no man manifests a stronger disposition to make his influence
subservient to his own interest and that of his family. By fraud and
violence, and collusion with the officers who have charge of
districts and require his aid at Court, he seizes upon the best lands
of his weaker neighbours, in the same manner as his namesake, Rajah
Dursun Sing, used to do; and of the money which he receives for
contracts of various kinds, he appropriates by far the greater part
to himself. He is often sent out, with a considerable force, to
adjust disputes between landholders and local authorities, and he
decides in favour of the party most able and willing to pay, under
the assurance that, if called to account, he will be able to clear
himself, by giving a share of what he gets to those who send and
support him. He commands a large body of mounted and foot police, and
he is often ordered to go and send detachments in pursuit of daring
offenders, particularly those who have given offence to the British
authorities. In such cases he generally succeeds in arresting and
bringing in some of the offenders; but he as often seizes the
landholders and others who may have given them shelter, intentionally
or otherwise; and, after extorting from them as much as they can be
made to pay, lets them go. He is not, of course, very particular as
to the quantity or quality of the evidence forthcoming to prove that