, a greater
immunity than we had in our house at Benares, which was several times
visited by these unwelcome intruders, though we always kept a watchman.
All over the North-West, I suppose all over India, thieves abound. Whole
tribes have for generations followed theft as a profession, and have
betaken themselves to honest work only when compelled by finding their
occupation perilous. They have had as their associates the idle and
dissolute of other castes. Tents, as I have observed, are commonly
pitched in shady groves, and in consequence admit of being approached
unobserved, and a sharp knife in a skilful hand can easily secure an
entrance on any side. Travellers have piquant stories to tell of the
cleverness and impudence with which their property has been taken away.
A missionary friend of ours awoke one morning to find that during the
night everything in his tent had disappeared on which thieves could lay
their hand. We had a large experience of tent life, but we have happily
no story to tell about any similar loss. I do not remember our having
had even a night alarm, though I well remember the difficulty we often
had in preventing our guardians from sending forth unearthly cries,
which made sleep impossible. My habit was, wherever we halted, to make
my way to the headman of the adjoining village or town, and to place our
encampment under his care. We were generally told there were thieves in
the neighbourhood; we were sometimes told they were numerous and daring.
We always stated our readiness to pay for watchmen, and we told the
headman that if he did not send trustworthy men we should hold him
responsible. We thus paid a sort of black-mail, but we thought the small
sum paid well expended as insurance for the safety of our property. Some
travellers take watchmen with them. This we never did, as we thought
ourselves safer in the hands of men on the spot. Many a time as we lay
down in our tent did we think how strange it was that, far away from our
European brethren, in a strange land among a strange people, we could
compose ourselves to sleep with as little fear, and with as strong a
feeling of security, as if within locks and bars in our own country. We
thought, with thankfulness, that we were under the aegis of our own
government, even when we were in places where Englishmen were seldom
seen, but where, notwithstanding, our prestige was fully recognized.

At all the places through which we passed on our first lon