n affianced to another, and forcibly made her his wife. By her he
had one daughter and one son, named _Maheput Sing_, who now inherited
from his father a fifteenth part of one of the six and half shares
into which the lands of Guneshpoor were divided. He, by degrees,
murdered, or drove out of the village, all his co-sharers, save
Gunbha Sing and Chungha Sing, joint proprietors of a small part of
one of the shares, known by the name of the Kunnee Puttee. From the
year 1843, Maheput Sing became a robber by profession, and the leader
of a formidable gang; and in three years, by a long series of
successful enterprises, he acquired the means of converting his
residence, on the border of the town of Guneshpoor, into a strong
fort, among the deep ravines of the Goomtee river. This fort he
called _Bhowaneegur_, after Bhowanee, the patroness of the trade of
murder and robbery, which he had adopted.

I shall now mention, more circumstantially, a few of the many
atrocities committed by him and his gang, during the last few years
of his career, as illustrative of the state of society in Oude.
Bulbhudder Sing, a subadar of the 45th Regiment of Bengal Native
Infantry, resided at Rampoor Sobeha, in the Dureeabad district. By
degrees he purchased thirteen-sixteenths of the lands of these two
small villages, which adjoin each other, out of the savings from his
pay, and those of his nephew, Mugun Sing, havildar of the 43rd
Regiment Bengal Native Infantry. On his being transferred to the
invalid establishment, the subadar resided with his family in
Rampoor, and in May, 1846, his nephew, Mugun Sing, came home on
furlough to visit him. Gujraj, an associate of Maheput Sing's, held
the other three-sixteenths of the lands of these two villages; and by
the murder of the subadar and all his family, he thought he should be
able to secure for himself the possession of the whole estate in
perpetuity. The family consisted of the subadar and his wife,--Mugun
Sing, the son of his deceased brother, Man Sing, and his wife; and
his son Bijonath and his wife,--Dwarka Sing, son of Ojagur Sing,
another deceased brother of the subadar,--Mahta Deen, the son of
Chundun Sing, another deceased brother of the subadar, and his wife
and young son, Surubjeet Sing, seven years of age,--Kulotee Sing, son
of Gobrae, another deceased brother of the subadar,--Bag Sing, a
relative,--Bechun Sing, a servant,--Seo Deen, the gardener,--Jeeawun
Sing, the barber, and the widow