prudent and too palatable to be lightly rejected, and the property was, accordingly, "quietly absorbed." A yet more dashing, though not equally profitable enterprise was that of the famous Budhuk chief, Gujraj, in 1839. In the absence of the Rajah of Jhansi, who had gone with nearly all his armed retainers to a marriage festival in the Duteea Rajah's family, Gujraj, with fifty followers, scaled the wall of that town, attacked the bankers' shops, killed one man and wounded another, and finally got off unmolested with £4,000 worth of plunder. This leader was warmly patronised by the Rajah of Nurwur, who had always half a dozen of his men to guard him while he slept. In Rajpootana, Gwalior, and Malwa the Dacoits called themselves Bagrees, or Bagorras. This clan numbered about 1,200 families, principally settled, or rather bivouacked, on the banks of the Chumbul. Of their proceedings less is known than concerning those of their Oude brethren. They were greatly favoured by the native princes and powerful landholders, and even when they were seized their punishment seldom went further than a compulsory restitution of the stolen property. They rarely insulted women beyond demanding of them their gold and silver ornaments, and their reckless liberality made them so popular with the poorer classes that when some of the petty princes were urged by the Indian Government to take steps to put down Dacoitee within their respective territories, they excused themselves on the ground that it would cause a revolution. They were, besides, much prized as auxiliaries in the state of perpetual warfare that existed among these independent princes. When the Alwar Chief, in 1783, renounced his allegiance to the Rajah of Jyepore, his sword and shield was Kishna, the great Bagree leader. At a later period, his grandson, Bijee Sing, rendered an important service to the lord of Alwar, for which he received an estate worth 4,000 rupees a year, rent free for ever. The commander of the Jyepoor forces had reduced the Alwar Chief to great straits, when the latter invoked the aid of Bhart Sing and Bijee Sing, who came to his assistance with 500 Bagrees, resolute and well armed men. The Manukpoor Gotra estate was offered as a reward to any one who would assassinate the enemy's leader. The Dacoits accepted the adventure. "Bhart Sing approached the tent at night with only four or five followers, whom he left outside. He entered the tent, and found the minister asleep and entirely defenceless. He could not kill a man in that state, and taking up his sword, shield, and turban, which lay by the bedside, he returned with them to Bijee Sing, saying that he could never stab a brave man in that defenceless state. Bijee Sing then went, entered the tent which was still without a sentry, and stabbed the minister to the heart."