the money fell to the ground; and as it was dark, and we had no time to search for it, we lost nearly 1,500 rupees." Nevertheless, they got off with 14,500 rupees, and with silver horse-furniture valued at £15 more. The impossibility of guarding against these organized attacks by large bodies of armed men, through the means of the ordinary police, induced Lord Auckland in 1838 to appoint Captain Sleeman commissioner for the suppression of Dacoitee, in addition to his duties as General Superintendent of measures for the suppression of Thuggee. The task was a difficult one. Not only were the Dacoits protected and screened by the native princes, land owners, and magistrates--their own numbers and determination rendered their apprehension a matter of some danger. It was afterwards ascertained that in 1839 there were no fewer than seventy-two leaders south of the Jumna who could gather together 1,625 followers; and to the north of that river forty-six leaders, supported by 1,445 men. In the Oude jungles were many powerful colonies, who were usually warned by friendly Zemindars of the approach of danger, and thus enabled to flee to less accessible fastnesses. On one occasion 1,500 of them escaped into Nepaul where they temporarily dispersed, to meet again at a given rendezvous. The Commissioner himself aptly compared their colonies to a ball of quicksilver, which, if pressed by the finger, will divide into many smaller globules, all certain to come together again and cohere as firmly as before. However, the constant alarms to which they were now subjected, compelled them to conceal themselves in such unhealthy spots that they were decimated by disease. In the Goruckpore district a gang, consisting of ninety-four men and 280 women and children, suffered so much from this cause that they voluntarily surrendered themselves. Others were hunted down from one district to another, until in despair they yielded themselves prisoners, or endeavoured to abandon their illegal vocation and settle down to agricultural pursuits. Many of the prisoners, being conditionally pardoned, were admitted into the police force, where they distinguished themselves by their courage and intelligence. It is a remarkable trait in the character of the Dacoits that they rarely forfeited their word. If once they pledged themselves not to revert to their former evil habits, there was little danger of a relapse. An experimental colony was formed of the approvers and their families near Moradabad, at a place called, _de nomine facti_, Buddukabad. The result has been satisfactory, though the Dacoits usually complained of the difficulty of confining their expenditure to the comparatively small means furnished by honest industry. A Budduk, they would say, cannot live on eight rupees a month (three rupees being the wages of an ordinary labourer): he requires at least two rupees a day, because he eats meat and takes large quantities of _ghee_ and rice, and loves