sper our undertaking
for the sake of the blind and the lame, _the widow and the orphan_,
who depend upon our exertions for subsistence, vouchsafe, we pray thee,
the call of the female jackal.' All his followers held up their hands
in the same manner and repeated these words after him. All then sat
down and waited in silence for the reply or spoke only in whispers. At
last the cry of the female jackal was heard three times on the left,
and believing her to have been inspired by the deity for their guidance
they were all much rejoiced." The following was another more elaborate
method of taking omens described by Ajit Singh: "When we speak of
seeking omens from our gods or Devi Deota, we mean the spirits of those
of our ancestors who performed great exploits in dacoity in their day,
gained a great name and established lasting reputations. For instance,
Mahajit, my grandfather, and Sahiba, his father, are called gods
and admitted to be so by us all. We have all of us some such gods
to be proud of among our ancestors; we propitiate them and ask for
favourable omens from them before we enter upon any enterprise. We
sometimes propitiate the Suraj Deota (sun god) and seek good omens
from him. We get two or three goats or rams, and sometimes even ten
or eleven, at the place where we determine to take the auspices, and
having assembled the principal men of the gang we put water into the
mouth of one of them and pray to the sun and to our ancestors thus:
'O thou Sun God! And O all ye other Gods! If we are to succeed in
the enterprise we are about to undertake we pray you to cause these
goats to shake their bodies.' If they do not shake them after the
gods have been thus duly invoked, the enterprise must not be entered
upon and the goats are not sacrificed. We then try the auspices with
wheat. We burn frankincense and scented wood and blow a shell; and
taking out a pinch of wheat grains, put them on the cloth and count
them. If they come up odd the omen is favourable, and if even it is
bad. After this, which we call the auspices of the Akut, we take that
of the Siarni or female jackal. If it calls on the left it is good,
but if on the right bad. If the omens turn out favourable in all three
trials then we have no fear whatever, but if they are favourable in
only one trial out of the three the enterprise must be given up."

13. Suppression of dacoity.

Between 1837 and 1849 the suppression of the regular practice of
armed da