they levy a fee of one rupee from every village
at the festival of the Holi in February, and another at that of the
Dasehra in October, and in each Thanadar's jurisdiction there are
from one to two hundred villages. These and numerous other
unauthorized exactions they share with those under them, and with the
native officers about the person of the magistrate, who, if not
conciliated, can always manage to make them appear unfit for their
places.[17]

A robbery affords a rich harvest. Some article of stolen property is
found in one man's house, and by a little legerdemain it is conveyed
to that of another, both of whom are made to pay liberally; the man
robbed also pays, and all the members of the village community are
made to do the same. They are all called to the court of the Thanadar
to give evidence as to what they have seen or heard regarding either
the fact or the persons in the remotest degree connected with it--as
to the arrests of the supposed offenders--the search of their house--
the character of their grandmothers and grandfathers--and they are
told that they are to be sent to the magistrate a hundred miles
distant, and then made to stand at the door among a hundred and fifty
pairs of shoes, till _his excellency_ the Nazir, the under-sheriff of
the court, may be pleased to announce them to his highness the
magistrate, which, of course, he will not do without a
_consideration_. To escape all these threatened evils, they pay
handsomely and depart in peace. The Thanadar reports that an attempt
to rob a house by persons unknown had been defeated by his exertions,
and the _good fortune_ of the magistrate; and sends a liberal share
of spoil to those who are to read his report to that functionary.[18]
This goes on more or less in every district, but more especially in
those where the magistrate happens to be a man of violent temper, who
is always surrounded by knaves, because men who have any regard for
their character will not approach him--or a weak, good-natured man,
easily made to believe anything, and managed by favourites--or one
too fond of field-sports, or of music, painting, European languages,
literature, and sciences, or lastly, of his own ease.[19] Some
magistrates think they can put down crime by dismissing the Thanadar;
but this tends only to prevent crimes being reported to him; for in
such cases the feelings of the people are in exact accordance with
the interests of the Thanadars; and crimes aug