But the officials of Marwar do not call their country a desert. On the contrary, they administer it very scientifically and raise, as has been said, about thirty-eight lakhs from it. To come back from the influence and the possible use of the desert to more prosaic facts. Read quickly a rough record of things in modern Marwar. The old is drawn in Tod, who speaks the truth. The Maharaja’s right-hand in the work of the State is Maharaj Sir Pertab Singh, Prime Minister, A.-D.-C. to the Prince of Wales, capable of managing the Marwari who intrigues like a--Marwari, equally capable, as has been seen, of moving in London Society, and Colonel of a newly-raised “crack” cavalry corps. The Englishman would have liked to have seen him, but he was away in the desert somewhere, either marking a boundary or looking after a succession case. Not very long ago, as the Setts of Ajmir knew well, there was a State debt of fifty lakhs. This has now been changed into a surplus of three lakhs, and the revenue is growing. Also, the simple Dacoit who used to enjoy himself very pleasantly, has been put into a department, and the Thug with him. Consequently, for the department takes a genuine interest in this form of _shikar_, and the gaol leg-irons are not too light, dacoities have been reduced to such an extent that men say “you may send a woman, with her ornaments upon her, from Sojat to Phalodi, and she will not lose a nose-ring.” Also, and this in a Rajput State is an important matter, the boundaries of nearly every village in Marwar have been demarcated, and boundary _rixes_, in which both sides preferred small-arm fire to the regulation _lathi_, are unknown. The open-handed system of giving away villages had raised a large and unmannerly crop of _jaghirdars_. These have been taken and brought in hand by Sir Pertab Singh, to the better order of the State. A Punjabi Sirdar, Har Dyal Singh, has reformed, or made rather, Courts on the Civil and Criminal Side; and his hand is said to be found in a good many sweepings out of old corners. It must always be borne in mind that everything that has been done, was carried through over and under unlimited intrigue, for Jodhpur is a Native State. Intrigue must be met with intrigue by all except Gordons or demi-gods; and it is curious to hear how a reduction in tariff, or a smoothing out of some tangled Court, had to be worked by shift and by-way. The tales are comic, but not for publication. Howbeit! Har Dyal Singh got his training in part under the Punjab Government, and in part in a little Native State far away in the Himalayas, where the _gumnameh_ was not altogether an unknown animal. To the credit of the “Pauper Province” be it said, it is not easy to circumvent a Punjabi. The details of his work would be dry reading. The result of it is good, and there is justice in Marwar, and order and firmness in its administration.